Two weeks ago yesterday, I started my internship. Wow. I’ve
been doing both administrative and public work, in my own office (see below)
and on the Museum floor — in the exhibits and in our hands-on kids’ room, the
Field Station. (And just like with my journey to finally get that semester
abroad, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to those who helped me get this
internship.)
My primary task this summer is to put together an EcoFair,
which will happen in conjunction with the traveling exhibit the museum is
getting this fall called Sustainable Shelter. Right now, I’m putting together a
list of vendors — people we think would like to participate — and then in the
next few weeks I’ll be contacting said vendors. I’m also in charge of creating
the registration sheet, sending it out, and collecting everything from the
vendors. So for now, this Fair is my baby.
The great thing is, both of my supervisors are doing their
best to make sure I get a really broad spectrum of experiences in the museum.
On my first day, we talked about what I hope to get out of this internship (my
honest answer is that I want to find out if museum work is right for me) and so
they have gone above and beyond to make sure that I can see what it takes to
run a museum. I've met a lot of people (which is the inspiration for the title of this post) and learned a good bit about the various kinds of people that it takes to make sure everything runs smoothly. Let me tell you, I will never look at a museum in quite the same way.
This past week, I’ve spent a lot of my time in the Field
Station. We have various learning stations and activities for kids to enjoy
during their trip to the museum, such as “Be an Artist,” “Be a Zoologist,” “Be
an Anthropologist,” and more, to introduce kids to the kinds of people that
contribute to a museum exhibit. Some days are quieter than others; most
mornings, I straighten up the Field Station and then have forty-five minutes of
reading time! Sometimes a daycare or day camp program will reserve the Field
Station for an hour or so — during which I bounce around from station to
station protecting some of our more delicate items (like the book of animal
x-rays that’s falling apart), refreshing craft supplies, and cleaning up the
mess that is inevitably left behind. Most days, however, there is a steady flow
of people coming and going through the Field Station.
Despite the fact that I sometimes feel like a glorified maid
(with this unpaid, not-for-credit internship), I do like what I’m doing. I get
to interact with kids, just like I wanted, and be involved in their learning
process. I whole-heartedly enjoy playing and talking with these kids. The
kindness and the curiosity they display is so amazing. For instance, one little
girl asked me about the bird skins that we have on display. She had been
looking at the skins (which are stuffed, but aren’t quite as life-like, meaning
they don’t have eyes and haven’t been placed in poses) and then started looking
at one of the posed birds that we have out on a counter. She asked me why this
bird had its eyes open, so we talked about the fact that when we put birds in
museums, we want them to look life-like so that people can learn from them and
see them the way they might look in real life. She followed that up by asking
if we kill the birds in order to put them in the museum; I explained that the
birds have already died by the time we get them and that people bring them to
us (the museum) so that everyone can have a chance to see the birds and learn
about them. She nodded slowly and then said, “if I ever find a dead bird, I’m
going to bring here to you so that everyone can learn about them.” (A little
morbid, yes, but the sentiment is still sweet.)
Or there’s the little boy who attended one of our day camps
this week. He arrived early on the first day, so his dad brought him over to
the Field Station to hang out until camp began. This little boy and I ended up
building with blocks, looking through a bird book (where he quickly picked up
on the fact that the green map meant the birds lived here in the summertime and
the blue map meant that they lived here in the wintertime), and talking. He
colored me a picture, very proudly wrote his name for me, and then waved
goodbye before going down the hallway to his camp. At the end of the day, he
made his dad wait for him while he ran back to the Field Station to wave bye
again. This little guy visited me all week before camp and waved to me everyday
after camp was over — and it made me smile every single time. It’s kids like
this that make me love what I’m doing.
