Junior Internship Blog
May 16th-June 10th
Pursuing science in our Natural History Museums!
This fossil shell I prepared is from the recent Pleistocene. It's very pretty in real life, and might have spent its days near Californian mammoths!
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Chaos the rattlesnake watches the conversation intently. While I now work in the herpetology wet collection, I had to ask for help quite a few times in entomology. I never have had to speak up for myself really, which is nice, but I've needed support in different ways. It can be difficult to admit that you don't know something, that's for sure. When these animals are under the microscope, it can be a little... difficult. How many wings does it have? Where are its biting mouth parts? Why does it have to be so small? The proper identification of these collected specimens was integral to the project. It's far better to ask for help than simply guess on something like this. (This might also simply be a fluke but I was offered paleontology yesterday after being told it wouldn't be possible. Maybe it was my endless yammering about archosaurs or something?) I'm trying my very best to work as hard as I can and make connections to my coworkers and mentors. I have liked everyone I've met so far, and those who I spend most of my time with, the mentors, are fantastic. Jim was helpful and supportive, and my herpetology mentor, Laura, is hilarious and very fun to work with. It feels like what I'm doing is making a real impact. Maybe my hand-identified mantid will appear during my presentation? Internship projects, in my opinion, are the hardest part. Especially when you neglect to tell your internship about it until a few days before it starts. Whoops! Thankfully, the good Samaritans at the museum have a solution they have practiced on many High Tech Students. Don't! What do I mean? Well, the museum doesn't want a project in a traditional sense. They feel as if it will distract us from what we really need to get from our time, which is knowledge. The things we learn during these weeks so far has been immensely enlightening. Things I thought I knew have been expanded upon in ways I couldn't believe, and I have only barely begun. What I will show to my peers and mentors is what I have done for the museum as a whole, and, more importantly, what I have learned. I can show my specimens, my logs, and my work, but my experiences that I describe will be just as available. What my project will be is not set in stone, because we don't want it to be! I will show what I've done in whatever way I see fit, and that is what the museum would prefer. Now, if only I could get some good Herpetology pictures for it. Something tells me that high schoolers don't want to see me messing with the innards of lizards...? Today i will give a blurb of my discussion with my current mentor, Jim, who is a seasoned entomologist. his help so far has risen me to new levels regarding the bodies and identification of many arthropod specimens. |