Going into this internship, I felt like I had so much to learn and the fear of the unknown grew proportionally to my to-do list. Having experience with tutoring college students and family members gave helpful insights when it came to designing educational programs, but even with that experience I felt like a complete beginner. With the helpful guidance of Maritza Rivas, I learned the skills to create educational programs based on age, theme, difficulty, and cultural backgrounds. I can say that my efforts were rewarded when I completed an entire weeks worth of activities without guidance and got it approved for the 2018 Leesylvania Summer Program.
Educational programs were only half of my learning experience. I was soon asked to update the museum's displays into a more pleasing and interactive design. I found that the solutions to these tasks came naturally to me and within a few hours I could set up a completely new display set.
I also learned how to feed and maintain all the animals in the Visitor Center, from catfish, to box-turtles, to Morticia the albino garter snake, I fell into the habit of feeding them weekly and cleaning out their cages. While putting up the Christmas decorations, I made some mistletoe for the two catfish that are perpetually in the corner of their tank in spirit of the holidays.
This internship has been a wonderful experience and I can only thank Education Specialist Maritza Rivas and Chief Ranger Sarah Percival for the wonderful guidance they have given me these past three months.