Description of day:
I woke up, got ready, and headed to the San Diego Natural History Museum early, and arrived around 8:30. Nothing was really open, and I waited for a bit until I saw some other interns waiting at the staff entrance. I entered with them and proceeded to the work place. I was really anxious about the work to come and I was worried that I wouldn't know anything.
9:30, work began for me officially. My mentor, Mr. Berrian, explained to me two projects that I could undertake. One was a project on sorting through a donation of an ant collection, and the other was continuing a sort through several ant, wasp, and bee specimens caught around 2009 in Point Loma. I chose the latter, and still nervous about how I would fare with the project, I began. I had several trays, dozens of jars in each tray, 4 to 6 vials in each jar, and a specific type of bug in each jar. Most of the work consisted of moving the bugs out of the old vials and jars, and placing them into new ones (the old jars had a pop off cap issue; in the heat the caps would pop up a little and all of the alcohol would evaporate. Also the old vials were too small and I needed to place them into longer vials), while at the same time making sure to double check the labeling for the correct species. My mentor had pointed out some of the issues with the labeling and informed me that the last volunteer working on the project might have mistaken bug species and misplaced them with different species all in the same jar.
Taking this all in, I was really nervous, and my first steps into the work didn't calm me down. My pace was slow, and my process was no good, I had to figure out visually how the vials should go, and as I worked I spilled alcohol in some places. I was really troubled on identifying the bugs in each vial. I would ask some questions when the bug did not fit the standards on the key my mentor gave me. With some help I was able to push through some vials, and get some jars completed. At the end of the day my mentor pointed out that my labeling was off at parts because of the marker I had used (we had printed labels, I had marked the back side of jar labels coordinating with the type of bug species in each jar. The label paper wasn't the right kind and the ink bleeded into the alcohol a little). Before leaving for the day, my mentor mentioned to me that in this week I am still learning some of the ways to identify bees from wasps, and that next week it would be easier for me to sort through them (10 minutes or less for each bug est.).
I left around 4:45 there-bouts, and I felt satisfied, like I did something important. Even though it was only 6 jars done today, hopefully it will be 12 jars or more tomorrow.
BLOG ASSIGNMENT POST week ONE, #9
The San Diego Natural History Museum's mission statement is:
"To interpret the natural world through research, education, and exhibits; to promote understanding of the evolution and diversity of southern California and peninsula of Baja California; to inspire in all people respect for the environment."
This impacts all of the employees, volunteers, interns, and visitors at the SDNHM because it is the soul purpose for the museum's existence; education. The SDNHM works not only to educate through its exhibits, but it educates everyone who works there, and the involvement in the museum extends all around San Diego, with projects going on in all of the fields. The Paleontology ward for example employs paleontologists to go around San Diego, working under a special law, to excavate fossils from pre-construction sites (if it wasn't for the specific law applying to construction sites, then fossils could be destroyed). The Entomology ward (this is the field I am interning in, Entomology), has entomologists that go into the field to collect and classify bugs, an entire room in the museum is filled with bug specimens filed away. The museum not only benefits the general public but leaves open the opportunity for scientific discovery and natural findings.
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