Week 12: The final countdown

So it's the last week of blogging... kinda crazy. Anyways my last week is going to be pretty cool! Yesterday I was able to feed a 5 foot ratsnake two rats right out of my hand, which was really cool, I'll try and post a video soon. Also this Wednesday I'm going to be presenting my presentation of the table to the president of the Witte museum along with some of the big donors of the museum, which is pretty cool. Other than that I'm finalizing my project and getting ready to pack up for the 20ish hour drive back to Gainesville! See Y'all in a week!

Jacob

Week 11

So I honestly have nothing new to update this week. Last week was my birthday so I took off thursday so my first day of work this week was yesterday (Monday) and half of the day I helped build some shelves for some incoming materials instead of working on the anatomy table. Today it was back on the table, but there is one thing I would like to share. A group of special needs visitors came to the museum and were thrilled with the exhibits that we had. Some of them were more capable than others, but almost all of them enjoyed looking at the body and listening to what I had to say. It was really cool watching them be so interested in the body!

Cheers, one more week to go!

Jacob

Week 10

Well, nothing has happened much since last week. I'm still working the anatomy table which is really fun, but other than that nothing has changed. One cool thing is that next week I'm supposed to be working with some fossils, which sounds exciting! For the moment I'm just thinking of how I am going to present my final project of producing a "guide" on how to present the anatomy table to different age ranges: elementary kids, teenagers, and adults.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Jacob

Week Something or Another

Hey all! Not much to report this week, just working away at my anatomy table and helping visitors enjoy the museum. I've been brainstorming ideas for my project and am thinking about making short video segments on how to present the table to different age groups and highlight some of the differences that presenters might encounter.

One cool experience that I had this week was with a visitor who was heavily impaired with her mobility and could barely hear. I was able to show her the anatomy table, and because sign language is my foreign language I could talk her through most of my presentation which was really cool! Because of her disabilities she wasn't able to participate in most of the exhibits at the museum, but she was really happy because of the anatomy table and one other exhibit that I was able to help her with (where you literally "wear" the human body as a vest). She and her nurse (at least I think that's who she was) were so happy that they wrote an email to the WITTY about their experience. So cool that I was able to help her enjoy the museum :)

--I attached some pictures for you all to enjoy, have a great four more weeks!

Jacob

Week 8: Repeat

Well, nothing has really changed at my internship. I'm still working the anatomy table which is really fun, but other than that I haven't been doing anything else. I'm supposed to get training on some other presentations this week and I'll have more of an update after that. For now I'm just thinking of how I am going to present my final project of producing a "guide" on how to present the anatomy table to different age ranges: 3-4 year old kids, elementary kids, and teenagers/adults.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Jacob

Week 7: New Beginnings...

Hey Guys! Sorry my post is so late but I was busy working and giving swimming lessons until late tonight (and I'm out in Texas) :) Anyways, the internship is going well. I just had a meeting with Sarah (The public programs director), and in the coming weeks I will be trained to do some of the other programs that they have trained actors coming in to do, which makes me really excited! Also, the 5 minute presentations which are in the works need to be approved by the curator and then I will be working on training the junior volunteers on how to present them. Other than that I've been on the anatomy table plugging away! 

Enjoy your 'summer break' 

Jacob Dixon! 

Week 6: Upgrade

So most of these last week was similar to before: Anatomy table, lost of kids, learning more bones in my free times, ect... but then it all changed when the supervisors attacked...

Apparently I had been getting a lot of compliments about my presentation of the anatomy table, and my co-workers wanted to know what I was doing. So, I walked them through what I did and how I did it, so others could kind of "replicate" what I was doing. After this, my mentor, Liz, asked me to set up a meeting with Sarah (The director of public programs) because they wanted me to start helping design some short program presentations and train volunteers to work them. I thought that was pretty cool, and I'm excited to start doing something other than the anatomy table! Don't get me wrong, the thing is REALLY cool, but it's like watching your favorite move 5x a day for a few weeks. Eventually it gets a little old.

Other than that I came down with strep this weak, had a killer migraine all weekend, puked my guts out, and didn't feel like eating anything other than jello. Mainly because I would see anything else a second time in a not so preferred way.

I'll me meeting with Sarah this Thursday, and I'm excited to see what's going to happen!

Almost 1/2 way done!

JaCoB DiXoN

Week 5: A brackish week

Well nothing has changed much over the past week as my last day of work during week 4 was on wednesday and the first day I worked this week was today. I pretty much worked on the anatomy table today again and took some mental notes as to what I should write in my "guide" to presenting the anatomy table. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I plan on talking to my mentor about working on other presentations and possibly introducing some STEM classes with legos and Knex to the general public!

Looking forward to future weeks!

Jacob Dixon

Week 4: The Body

So most of you heard me talk about the "anatomy table" last week in class, and this was the first week that I really had the opportunity to use it! Basically, my job this week was to "run" the anatomy table this week. I wasn't necessarily given any instructions on what to do with it other than show visitors the exhibit. I decided to come up with a little demonstration that I would use to go through the various systems of the body. It ended up being a hit and whenever visitors would come to the anatomy table it they loved learning about the body! My supervisor ended up hearing so many good things about my presentation that today she asked me to go through it with the other workers that manned the anatomy table when I wasn't there, talk about being put on the spot!
Anyways, I'm going to post a couple pics of some of the slides of the anatomy table and I hope to get a short video of it up here soon.
Hope you all had a great week!

Cheers,
Jacob Dixon

Week 3: Dodgeball

I started working for the WITTY museum on the grand opening of their new exhibit, the HEB body adventure. This exhibit has everything to do with health and fitness. Many of the exhibits are interactive and have the patrons working with hands on activities. Over the past couple of days I helped thousands of kids go through these exhibits, including one that gave them a real time view of their heart beat!
Another exhibit (Which I am posting a picture of) is meant to show the kids how much fun activities can be that keep them active. The exhibit was called "dodgeball" A red square lights up and moves around the floor, and the kids have to run around the floor avoiding the red square. The game gets progressively harder and eventually someone steps on the red lights and have to step out, thus another kid steps in. Initially when I took over this station it was kind of hap-hazard, with kids flying in and off of the court. After I stepped in I kept it to 4 people on the floor at one time and when someone was taken out, the next person in the line that was formed took their place. This was a much more efficient system and the kids throughly enjoyed it more. I guess that's the engineer in me haha.

For the next couple of weeks I will probably be doing more exhibits within the HEB body adventure and then eventually start working some summer exploration camps, that include STEM related subjects!

Week 2: A Stagnant Pond

So...no new updates since the last time I posted. My volunteer position at the museum beings the first week in June and I haven't received my schedule yet, so I don't know exactly where/what I will be doing. I guess my only update will be that I read through my employee handbook which includes the dates and times that the museum is open and important information that the employees should know.

For instance, if we are asked where the bathrooms are located I can now direct them to those locations.
I also know where the elevators are located and what emergency exit procedures and policies are. Basically all the jargon that your typical museum curator should know. However, I'm looking forward to working in the exhibits and teaching classes this summer!


Cheers!
JaCoB DiXon

Week 1: Training

Just had my first training session with the WITTY museum in San Antonio. Looks like this will be an awesome place to perform my fellowship this summer! We had a walkthrough of one of their four story exhibits which was all about health and wellness. A few of the other exhibits included Ancient Aliens, Astroids and Astroids, The Archeological Hunt, and the world through magic lanterns.  Can't wait until I start my first day here!

Well, today is my first day back home. Finally out of Gainesville and getting ready to start the interviews for lots of internship possibilities!