6 Things I Like About My Job

Before I dive in, I think I should give some background information about my job...

Instead of doing my work-study job on campus as part of my financial aid package, I have the privilege of working off-campus at a local non-profit as a Bonner scholar. If you remember from a blog post in the spring, I wrote about applying to several jobs for the next three years. As a result, I've accepted a work-study position at the Science Museum of Minnesota in downtown Saint Paul as their Activate Program Intern. 

The Activate program occurs every Saturday from noon to 4pm, where museum volunteers run activity tables (ranging from  building circuits to drawing tiny drawings under a microscope to making stop-motion videos) on the exhibit floors inside the museum. The activity tables are aimed at the museum's younger visitors (about 12 and under) and to help them understand some science concepts. I work two days a week currently: Tuesday mornings and all day Saturdays. I'm still in the process of figuring out my job as I go since I've only started working a month ago; however, I do help oversee the museum volunteers and help set up activities on Saturdays. Past Tuesdays, I have been translating activity descriptions into Spanish and reorganizing activity shelves. 

Cardboard Gallery, the museum's newest exhibition, opened today, which allows visitors to make things out of cardboard. In this photo, Ashante (the other Macalester Bonner at the museum) and I made a cardboard airplane that kids can wear.

1. The museum staff are mostly female. While the sciences are known to be heavily male-dominated overall, the science museum actually employs more females than males. My colleagues are female (except 1), the volunteer coordinator is female, and the museum president is female. It's very heartwarming to see that gender inequality is not something that blatantly exists here.

2. The staff of the Learning Technologies Center (which houses the Activate program) are diverse. Most of us are billingual and are either immigrants or children of immigrants. 

3. My colleagues are young college graduates. They are only three or four years older, and it actually comforts me knowing that college graduates do get jobs.

4. I get to play with cardboard and get paid for it (see left). 'Nuff said. 

5. I get a certain amount of free museum tickets to give to friends. Yay for free cool IMAX movies!

6. I don't need to work more than two days a week. This means less time wasted on commuting.