How has internship inspired me to think about college? I already think about college but I've learned that it isn't the end of your life. I don't mean that in a depressing way, I promise. For most high schoolers, they don't really think about what happens after college. Your career, your job, your work environment, life are important things that happen after college graduation. College is what prepares you for these things, life doesn't magically work out afterwards. Plus, what happens in high school becomes irrelevant once life goes on. Your degree is important but, it's a tool for you to use.
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I've had a lot of fun and I love this internship. I'm most thankful for the variety of things I got to experience. I was in a classroom, office, and two different science labs. I've made mistakes, spilled coffee and acetone and bugs, but I've learned a lot of different things and I think that's awesome. I did my presentation in the board room at the NAT which is a big fancy room with a BIG fancy table and tv projection screen. Every single seat at that table was filled. Some of them were my mentors, some were people I had eaten lunch with, or had random discussions with. Every single person was different and I'm very happy I got to meet all of them. I said that I've gained a new appreciation for museums and elementary school teachers in my presentation. Museums are an unique niche in the business world and I appreciate how much goes on in order to create an experience. Elementary school teachers handle little kids all day, the one time I did that I took an hour long nap afterwards. Kids are great but they're also energy consuming. I finally understand what exactly scientists do. It's not glorified work, it's a lot of tedious things. But that doesn't mean that it isn't worth it :)
I'm an introvert and that's not going to change. However, I do want to be more outgoing like Christine and Chris and all the educators in Education. I want to be a valuable wealth of knowledge like Jim and Pat (Jim is the spider expert and Pat is the invertebrate fossils expert). I want to ask more questions and self-advocate more.
By switching in-between departments, this internship has shown me that there are a variety of workplace environments and it takes a lot of different jobs and people to run a organization. For instance, HTH. We have teachers, students, inclusion specialists, college counselor, sports coach, directors, deans, and more that I can't think of. I've also learned that the workplace environment and people are just as important as what you're doing. A lot of people were surprised by my internship choice because I want to go into engineering. This is my third year on the robotics team and half of my resume is related to that. But this internship was the one that I wanted the most. I've learned a lot during these past three weeks and I've branched out into different subjects. What does that mean for my career? I don't know. But I do know that I want to combine engineering and science. My IPol (internship presentation) is on Friday at 10 AM in the boardroom (oh so fancy). I'm planning on using Prezi to showcase my work as well as additional fossil and bug specimens. To remind me of what I should talk about and add on, I have a list of things printed out. How am I preparing to address questions that might be asked? By answering them. I'll answer them to the best of my ability and if I don't know, then I don't know. I don't foresee too many questions since I'm going over my internship in detail. I have a new appreciation for museums and elementary school teachers. I had the opportunity to work with little kids and I enjoyed it. However, it was harder than I thought it'd be. Children are not miniature versions of adults, they're completely different and you have to keep that in mind. It took a lot of energy to keep up with the kids as well, kudos to elementary school teachers! I am beneficial to the museum but, I am primarily here to learn. I learned how to sort arthropods by their orders (I'm decent at it, definitely not the best) and became more familiar with scientific nomenclature. By doing that I was able to help with the Cactus Wren project. I've jumped in and helped out with most of the programs that the Education department hosts and because of that I'm able to design a pop-up for them which can also be used in camps. Additionally, I'm the first intern that the Education department has had so, they're planning on using my feedback for possible future interns. In Paleontology, (where I am this week) I've been learning about the different ways to prep fossils and I have helped prep some fossils. Overall, I'm having a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot about education stuff, science, and myself (I'm very tempted to insert a bitmoji and be like Lucas) Below are some pictures from my presentation. I'm in Paleontology this week, so I get to help with prepping my fossils :)
If you were to listen in on Entomology, you'd probably hear nothing. In Paleontology, probably a mini Jigsaw or a hacksaw. In Education, a printer or a conversation. Just because you might not hear someone talking doesn't mean that they don't communicate with each other on important things. Everyone has to be on the same page in order for things to work. Communication is key to a efficient working environment and life. And you don't want to be the person who never talks to their coworkers and therefore isolates themselves. That's not fun :( Self-advocacy and asking questions is also very important. No one knows what your skills are unless you tell them or show them. You're never going to improve unless you ask for harder things out of your comfort zone. Like, I'm not too comfortable managing a classroom full of kids but I pushed myself to work with them. I observed how other people acted with them and tried to do the same. Asking questions if you're never not sure about something or just curious isn't a bad thing. For example, when I was sorting arthropods I came across several that I didn't recognize. Well, I asked for help and my mentor showed me what characteristics to look out for. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Well, I've left Education for the week and am in Paleontology. Today, I was cleaning clam and oyster fossils for their comparative collection.
As my project in Education I'm designing a pop-up. A pop-up, in Education, is like a little interactive game that you put on a cart and bring out to the main floor to engage with guests. So far, I have a solid idea for the pop-up. I'm doing a game where you match up different plants and animals to habitats (chaparral, riparian, coastal sage brush, etc) in San Diego. I'm getting the materials this week and am putting it together next week. The concept of a pop-up is simple. It's a short interaction with the museum guests. However, designing is more complicated than I thought it'd be. I can only imagine how hard it is to develop a lesson plan, much less a semester's curriculum or a camp. Compared to school...it's very different. High school, at least HTHI, is very social. We're constantly talking to each other about random things and collaborating with each other on projects. We see our friends every day. We're surrounded by people who are all the same age as us (except the teachers and staff). In the workplace, it's not as social and everyone is a different age. The workday is longer, but not as long as certain days I have on the robotics team. Adults aren't involved in extracurriculars, which I knew but didn't really realize. In terms of stress, I'd say it's the same level. Everyone is responsible for a variety of things and some of them just get picked up even if they're not part of the job description. As a student, my responsibilities are straightforward. Learn, balance my extracurriculars and school, and be responsible for my role in projects. It's harder to manage my own time for six hours without a set schedule.
Internship has shown me a variety of jobs/careers in a short period of time. I don't know what I want to do but I do know what kind of environment I want to work in. I've definitely learned a lot about myself during this internship. I've learned that my back will hurt if I sit in a chair staring through a microscope for long periods of time. I've learned that although I have improved a lot in my public speaking skills since the beginning of high school, it's still not where I want it to be. I've learned that I want a job and career that includes collaboration as well as independent work and math. I've also learned that there are a lot more to little kids than meets the eye.
This internship is an opportunity to explore new things and has me rethinking and narrowing down what I want to be when I grow up. While my internship choice was something I really wanted, it came as a surprise to several of my friends and teachers. But, I've definitely grown as a person here at theNAT and I'm glad I'm here. Today, I was helping with one the the NAT's in-house programs and things got a little chaotic. We were expecting 20 something kids for the class and ended up with nearly double. They were expecting the Arthropods class, however we had the Coast-to-Cactus one scheduled for them. It worked out in the end and I had a firsthand experience of even if things go wrong, you make it work. Plus, I have a new appreciation for museums now. There's so much that goes on behind the scenes and so much stress involved with running everything, like I don't know how they do it, they just do. So, what's been challenging for me? Well, I'm an introvert and it's hard to be outgoing for long periods of time. For instance, during Family Day, I had to be extroverted and engaging for hours which was very tiring. Sitting in a chair all day, like in Entomology, was challenging as well because my back, neck, and eyes all hurt.
What's a challenge that theNAT deals with? Well, an ongoing challenge in Education is to be more engaging, more streamlined, and there's the constant question of what can we do to make this better? For example, they use Ms. Frizzle for activities during family days however, this costs a lot because Scholastic owns the character. So what are they doing? They're coming out with their own character that can be more diverse (ethnicity and gender wise) and inexpensive (since theNAT owns the character not another company). Today's blog prompt was to check out others' blogs and reflect on those. Well, it gave me an excuse to stalk my friends' internship blogs heh heh. Just kidding. It was really cool to see what everyone else is working on. Here's three of the blogs that I checked out:
Mckenna Hervey: Mckenna is interning at BlueStocking Books in Hillcrest. Running a bookstore may not seem like a lot but it's a business and running businesses are hard. What surprised me about hers was the ease of which she fell into her role. Mckenna's an introvert but she felt comfortabe talking to random custormers in the store. I think this is something that Mckenna really cares about and it shows. I'd say both of our internships are similar because both of us have to smile and communicate with people. Mckenna with customers and me with the museum guests if I'm helping out with a program. Marina Grimmett: Marina is interning at High Tech High Explorer Elementary with one of their teachers. I'm not entirely sure how she manages to be engaging and have fun with the kids all day. When I helped with a classroom program and Family Day, I had to be engaging with the kids the whole time and it took a lot of energy. Both of us work with kids(her more than me) but in different settings. It's interesting to compare museum school programs to an elementary school. Jasmine Contile: Jazzy is interning at a law firm that works with environmental, human rights, and political law. I've known her for two years and for that entire time she's always wanted to go into law. I'm really glad that she's enjoying her internship and is branching out into a different area of law. I wouldn't really say our internships are alike however, we're both enjoying it. |
Internship BlogI interned at The San Diego Natural History Museum for the month of January. I worked there full time for four and a half weeks. I bounced between departments. Week .5 was in Education, Week 1 was in Entomology, Week 2 was Education, Week 3 was Paleontology, and Week 4 was Education. Archives
February 2017
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