This semester I had the opportunity to be an intern for the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. I was specifically assigned as a development intern, where my main duties were focused on activities that would help to develop the museum into a better organization. This involved communication with businesses and the city, data entry, and working with donors. This position in particular had many aspects that involved the need for communication skills, writing ability, and comprehension skills from reading. Those skills should have been developed at some point in college through classes to an adequate extent. This internship was beneficial to me for my future career as it allowed me to see the inner workings of a museum environment, which is one of the career paths that I want to try. I was fortunate to have one of the co-directors of the museum, Kate Porter, to guide me and she did her best to advise me on many things that I would encounter in any career field, like reading contracts. I was also able to gain more experience working with data and using this data to help the museum as a whole. This experience was loosely tied to my degree field of history, but the skills I learned as a history major were on full display. I had also changed my major before and those experiences I had in those other majors were also available. So college was helpful, to say the least. I am still interested in working in museums in the future and this internship made me feel that this is a good career choice. In addition to the skills I have mentioned before, this field would benefit from anyone with business understanding or have basic data entry. Many individuals working in the museum field have volunteered at museums or libraries before, myself included, so even just spending time as a volunteer at a museum is helpful. To reach higher positions in the field, a master's would be needed and any certifications on the proper handling of museum specimens would also be helpful.
