Overcommitment: go!
Monday and Sunday I had volunteer training at OMSI, where I'm working for the summer as a mentor to their Youth volunteer program, and in the fall as a paleontology lab educator. Most of my training so far has focused on the "Body Worlds 3" exhibit, which opens at OMSI today, rather than any of the work that I'll actually be doing. This is on par with most of the museum work I've done in the past-- museum staff, particularly the volunteer and education staff, are generally overworked, underpaid, and constantly inundated with new problems and concerns. Body Worlds is a large and unique exhibit, which will fill up not only OMSI's usual featured exhibit space when it opens, but also the upstairs Life and Earth Science halls; the staff have had to remove all the exhibits which could be moved, and disguise the rest with draperies and walls. Tickets for the exhibit are timed, and there may be as many as 150 people waiting in line for tickets outside the museum at any point during a day; all-in-all, it sounds like the museum will be a perfect madhouse starting today. The weekend's tickets for the exhibit are already sold out.
When I first sent in my application to volunteer this spring, I hoped to be working primarily in the paleontology lab, and added my willingness to work with the youth program as something of an afterthought. I worked as a youth volunteer at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and Science (MNHS) for three years during high school, doing demos, interpreting exhibits, and-- in my last year there-- reconstructing bones in the paleontology lab. The program shifted during my time there from an opportunity for science-interested students to work in a real museum to one aimed at giving low-income students a better chance at college and valuable work skills. While it was undoubtedly an incredibly valuable program in its newer incarnation, I always felt a little regretful that it no longer focused as much on the actual museum education as it used to. That, though, is the regret of education privilege, so it shouldn't be taken too seriously.
In any case, I missed actively doing science, and particularly missed working in the paleontology lab. There's really something very calming about spending a long time on just minutely detailed labor-- working on reconstructing those dinosaur bones was simultaneously fascinating, exciting, and deeply soothing. So when I left for Oregon, I really hoped to be able to find another paleontology lab to work in. The paleo lab at OMSI, however, is shutting down for the summer with the rest of the Life and Earth Science halls. I had mentioned on my application that I was also interested in helping with OMSI's youth volunteer programs, so when I finally got to the museum for an interview, they suggested that I work with their summer youth program.
The Rising Stars summer program is a 6-week volunteer program for about 30 high school students, chosen through an application process. (Usually the museum doesn't have enough applicants-- this year, evidently, they had too many, and so will have an especially enthusiastic crowd.) As one of their mentors, I'll help them work on their demonstration techniques, work skills, and science knowledge. The program ends with a "Demo Fair", where each of the students will present a science demo they designed themselves. I have to say that I'm looking forward to it-- the program starts with an overnight event where we'll meet the kids and help them through their first training exercises, and afterwards I'll work with them once a week for their whole workday.
In the meantime, though, I've also gotten all this weird training for the Body Worlds 3 exhibit-- including, most frighteningly, a list of "approved" and "unapproved" terms that I am allowed to use to discuss the exhibit when talking to the public. Once I actually see this exhibit, which I think is yucky and disturbing an innovative anatomical exhibition of human specimens, I imagine there'll be more weird things to say about it.
So: volunteer training for one commitment down. In the fall, I'll be trained to work in the paleo lab. Over the summer, I'm still building webpages for MercyCorpsNW (hopefully) and doing some extra tech support for Green Empowerment. It ought to be a good few months.
When I first sent in my application to volunteer this spring, I hoped to be working primarily in the paleontology lab, and added my willingness to work with the youth program as something of an afterthought. I worked as a youth volunteer at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and Science (MNHS) for three years during high school, doing demos, interpreting exhibits, and-- in my last year there-- reconstructing bones in the paleontology lab. The program shifted during my time there from an opportunity for science-interested students to work in a real museum to one aimed at giving low-income students a better chance at college and valuable work skills. While it was undoubtedly an incredibly valuable program in its newer incarnation, I always felt a little regretful that it no longer focused as much on the actual museum education as it used to. That, though, is the regret of education privilege, so it shouldn't be taken too seriously.
In any case, I missed actively doing science, and particularly missed working in the paleontology lab. There's really something very calming about spending a long time on just minutely detailed labor-- working on reconstructing those dinosaur bones was simultaneously fascinating, exciting, and deeply soothing. So when I left for Oregon, I really hoped to be able to find another paleontology lab to work in. The paleo lab at OMSI, however, is shutting down for the summer with the rest of the Life and Earth Science halls. I had mentioned on my application that I was also interested in helping with OMSI's youth volunteer programs, so when I finally got to the museum for an interview, they suggested that I work with their summer youth program.
The Rising Stars summer program is a 6-week volunteer program for about 30 high school students, chosen through an application process. (Usually the museum doesn't have enough applicants-- this year, evidently, they had too many, and so will have an especially enthusiastic crowd.) As one of their mentors, I'll help them work on their demonstration techniques, work skills, and science knowledge. The program ends with a "Demo Fair", where each of the students will present a science demo they designed themselves. I have to say that I'm looking forward to it-- the program starts with an overnight event where we'll meet the kids and help them through their first training exercises, and afterwards I'll work with them once a week for their whole workday.
In the meantime, though, I've also gotten all this weird training for the Body Worlds 3 exhibit-- including, most frighteningly, a list of "approved" and "unapproved" terms that I am allowed to use to discuss the exhibit when talking to the public. Once I actually see this exhibit, which I think is yucky and disturbing an innovative anatomical exhibition of human specimens, I imagine there'll be more weird things to say about it.
So: volunteer training for one commitment down. In the fall, I'll be trained to work in the paleo lab. Over the summer, I'm still building webpages for MercyCorpsNW (hopefully) and doing some extra tech support for Green Empowerment. It ought to be a good few months.