Day 10: The Last Day

Today I arrived a bit early so I was able to take a brief look at the touch cart again before going right into presenting. 

After I felt pretty confident, I went to get ready in front of the malacology exhibit. Luckily, there were a lot of visitors, including numerous tours for school field trips, so there was no problem in presenting today. 

I am happy to say that this time I was able to get some images of me presenting, and not just pictures of the cart. Ms. Leap helped me in doing this: she stood in front of me, so she was able to get pictures of me and the backs of the visitors watching. 

When there were groups of younger children, having also the teachers present meant that there was a more in-depth explanation for the specimens I was showing. I tried my best to make each presentation as interactive and coherent as possible. 

I decided to put in the left-handed whelk, the Texas state shell, instead of the tiger cowrie. I think that was a good call since it seemed that it was a specimen that children were really interested in. 

Another specimen I think was also really liked was the squid pens. When I would present those I would point to a statue of a giant squid right by the place I was presenting, and continue with a basic description. Since these are really delicate, they generally should not be touched by docents or visitors, but they're really interesting to look at nonetheless. 

Here is a picture of the cart:

In total, I presented with the left-handed whelk, the hammer oyster, and the squid pens. I kept this display throughout the entire time I was presenting, and didn't swap out any of the three for other specimens. 

Like I said, there were a lot of people today, so there was a constant flow of new people who stopped to listen. This is different to how Monday or Tuesday was this week, since I remember them being much calmer days. Regardless, I am also pleased to say that there were no problems with people touching or holding the specimens, and no items were damaged during the presentations. 

In regards to my final product, I am not currently finished with it, and I have some modifications I want to make to the research I'm including. I am aiming to have it done and sent to Ms. Leap by this evening (or tomorrow morning at the latest), so that's what I will focus on for today. During the weekend, however, I am planning to work on my slides for the M-Term presentations which will take place next week. I'm glad that I now have some better pictures to include in that, so I'll try to make it interesting! 

All in all, I am really pleased with how this M-Term turned out. I was looking forward to working with the museum, and feel that I have learned a lot from the staff and active work. 

I hope I can continue volunteering there in the future, as there is so much more to explore!