Leigh Dale ’10 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, photo by Elizabeth LeitzellBy Caitlin Antonios
- Leigh Dale ’10, Tara Contractor ’13, and Caro Thomas ’17 landed coveted and scarce museum jobs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, despite their different career trajectories.
“Wait, did you go to Scripps?” Leigh Dale ’10 asked Caro Thomas ’17 when she saw a sticker of the Denison Library doors on Thomas’ water bottle.
They had been working in the same division at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), but that sticker revealed a deeper connection—and an example of the community that Scripps alums continue to find long after graduation.
Thomas, Dale, and Tara Contractor ’13 are colleagues at the museum, yet each followed a different path from Scripps to their current positions—bringing with them the skills, curiosity, and relationships they developed as students.
Community Beyond Campus
For Dale, the Scripps community is one of the things she has cherished most about her college experience. After graduating with an art history degree, Dale worked in various jobs before becoming coordinator of interpretation, family, and young audiences at PMA.
Scripps gave Dale freedom to explore multiple interests, including studying in Italy and exploring the vast number museums around the country. On average, 60 percent of Scripps students participate in the study abroad (SAGE) program.
“It was very hard to narrow things down to just one major,” Dale explains. “It dawned on me that working in a museum might be a career path for me.”
She ultimately received her master’s in education from Harvard Graduate School and interned at art museums in Boston. Her time at the Perkins School for the Blind deepened her interest in developing accessible programming for museums. She’s now in her 11th year at PMA.
Caro Thomas ’17 at PMAWhen Contractor and Thomas arrived at PMA in 2021 and 2025, respectively, the three bonded over their unique Scripps experience.
“It’s like when you become friends with your friends’ friends. Somebody already vetted that person for you,” Thomas says. “Scripps does such an excellent job of picking kind, thoughtful women, and when you meet those people outside of campus, you recognize their amazing qualities.”
A humanities Core course at Scripps led Thomas to teaching Spanish to fourth graders—an experience that ultimately influenced her career. She graduated with a studio art degree, finished her postgraduate studies in education and museum studies, and taught high school before moving to Philadelphia. She now works as a coordinator of teen programs for PMA, which includes everything from sketching workshops to podcasting.
“I deeply feel that the more you explore different interests and allow yourself to try something new, the more likely you are to meet somebody that inspires you,” Thomas says.
Tara Contractor ’13’s position as PMA’s Agnes and Jack Mulroney associate curator of European paintings can also be traced back to her time at Scripps.
She worked at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery all four years of college, gaining hands-on experience handling objects, reorganizing the ceramics collection, and even curating her own art exhibition on shawls. This project, made possible through the Johnson Summer Student Research Grant, included a research trip to Scotland, which emerged as a major manufacturer of imitation Southeast Asian shawls during the mid-19th century.
“I was just having a ball with my interdisciplinary Scripps time. That was when I realized I really like the work you get to do in museums,” Contractor says.
Channeling the Scripps Experience
Today, all three Scripps alums are creating more opportunities to collaborate at the museum. One of Thomas’s students interviewed Dale for their podcast and taught a project to four- and five-year-olds inspired by the Framed! European Picture Frames from the Johnson Collection exhibition Contractor curated.
Despite their different trajectories, Dale, Thomas, and Contractor’s cite the same lesson: A career does not have to be mapped out from the beginning.
“I encourage students to take classes they’re genuinely curious about, rather than because they seem connected to a future career,” says Thomas. “Some of my most meaningful experiences came from following unexpected interests.”
Contractor and Dale similarly credit Scripps with helping them develop strong writing skills, even when they didn’t know at the time it would be so vital to their current work.
And one of their biggest shared beliefs is in the power of the Scripps community itself—an asset they hope current students take advantage of.
“It is just such a kind, intergenerational group, and people really want to help each other,” Contractor adds.
Their Scripps connection has followed them—across disciplines, across the country, and into a shared workplace where they can continue building community together.