I cannot believe this is my last week interning at the National Museum of Natural History. I am of course excited to be back home and then to return to Ann Arbor but I really am going to miss this internship so much! I will definitely miss all of the people I have met and worked with, the gorgeous museum itself, and the city as a whole. I am most grateful for all of the incredible opportunities that came with the internship which (besides all that I learned in the lab) also includes tours of Smithsonian museum collections, getting to visit so many other D.C. museums, and seeing Michelle Obama in the Presidential state car! Overall, I am very glad I spent my summer at this internship.
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| rare book collection tour |
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| fish collection tour |
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| That shadow in the backseat is the First Lady waving, I swear |
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I believe that one experience in particular at the University of Michigan greatly prepared me for the internship. This experience is UROP (the undergraduate research opportunities program). This program gave me my first real experience of writing a professional resume and cover letter, and working in a research lab. Without this experience I would have been much more frightened about applying for this summer internship in D.C. Instead, I felt confident that I knew what I was doing and this probably helped me get the internship. Also, having this experience of assisting in a biochemistry lab at U of M made more confident about working at the Smithsonian. I had already practiced acting professional and safe in a lab setting so this helped me then act more confident and work more successfully this summer.
None of the situations I encountered during the internship really surprised me because I tried to go in with a very open mind. Whenever someone asked for help on a new project I agreed because I genuinely wanted to learn as many different aspects of the research as possible. I'm glad I got to work for a few different people throughout the summer so I got to work on different types of wasps and try different research methods.
I have been in the collections room at a museum once and it was an amazing experience. I can't believe you got to do that for an internship! Do you want to work in a museum one day? Also I think its great that your experience with UROP helped you secure your internship.
ReplyDeleteI definitely would love working in a museum one day!
DeleteIt sounds like your internship really gave you the opportunity to see how helpful school, and more specifically UROP has been in preparing you for work in the real world. I have never worked in a museum, but based on your blog, it seems like it has been very beneficial to your development. It does not hurt that you also were able to be in an awesome city like Washington D.C.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you also came in with the right attitude through your willingness to help on any new project. I have found that by doing this, you can easily build team chemistry with your coworkers, as well as stand out in comparison to other interns who are potentially looking for full-time work at their respective companies. Overall, your work experience sounds like it was very fun and contributed significantly to your future work plans.