By Sam Walsh
She/They
Environmental Conservation major

This semester, I had the wonderful opportunity to complete a GCC Geology Museum Collections internship. This experience has been truly rewarding, helping me grow both personally and academically.

My main responsibilities involved working with the museum’s mineral collection. I worked on collecting geo-data for different minerals in the collection—things like size and color—to organize and categorize them. I also set up minerals in displays and added them to the digital collection, so more people can see and learn about the amazing world of minerals.

Getting to try something new and work with such beautiful minerals has been such a fun experience. I've learned a ton—everything from how minerals form and what makes them unique, to where different specimens come from. Plus, organizing collections and creating displays has given me hands-on experience in museum work. I loved being able to revamp the displays and really highlight the beauty of the minerals.

Balancing my coursework, internship duties, and personal life was challenging at times, but learning how to manage a busy schedule while still staying passionate about my work will definitely help me in my career down the road.

The internship also complemented my classes well. It all felt really connected. A lot of what I learned in class helped me understand my internship better, and at the same time, my internship helped reinforce what I was learning in class. It was a great back-and-forth dynamic.

Overall, the experience has helped me narrow down what I want to explore within my field. Getting hands-on experience has really guided me toward finding my niche. And pushing myself to try something new helped me grow and gave me more confidence to keep stepping out of my comfort zone.