Internship post 8: Wednesday, January 26 2011

7. How do you feel about returning back to classes next week? Do you anticipate a different experience of school now that you have been immersed in a work place? What are you looking forward to about coming back? What are you going to miss about internship?

I feel a bit excited about returning back to class, it would give me the chance to get back into the swing of things. The thing I am most looking forward to about going back to school is that it narrows the amount of things I have to focus on. This month I had to get my internship work and do stuff for school, doing the work wasn't necessarily difficult it was just hard to shift from two completely different mind sets during the day. As far what I am expecting, I am expecting the basics to be same, projects, a lecture here and there, nothing too out of the ordinary. I'm not really sure as to how things would change too much without getting away from the school's primary focus. I am also looking forward to starting biology, the first day of the month felt a bit betraying. We went into the bio class room but only to talk about internship.

There are a couple of things that I will miss once we start class. The biggest one being the fact that mine took place in the zoo. If things got a little overwhelming,or the day was going poorly, or whatever happened I could just go out and check out the animals. The people in the workplace were also very kind to me and one another. It just seemed like a really relaxed environment and that always takes a big load off.

Internship post 7: Monday, 24 2011

1. Describe what you are most thankful for in your internship experience—what experiences, what people, and so on? What new appreciations have you gained through internship and how did you develop these?

First off, I'm most thankful for having my internship at the Zoo. Just being out in that environment is nice, whenever I get a chance on a less-than-stellar day I can take some time to go out and about to relax a bit. As far experiences, there are a few that I am particularly thankful for. During my internship there was a day were I helped my mentor organize plant material, and during that day whenever there was something of interest he would take it aside and show me something unique about it. For example there was a seed pod that had fibers coming out, he shined a light on it and it refracted the light. There was also a pine cone that closed and opened depending on moisture.

Along with all of this, I'm very thankful for my mentor and his attitude towards everything we've done together. I see him smiling most of the time, he takes breaks from his work sometimes just to converse with me about anything, and I feel like thats really relieving for me. It seems like he takes a personal interest in me, and not just making me do work and leaving me on my own.

Internship post 6: Friday, 21 2011

8. What are social interactions like in your workplace? Do people spend a lot of time socializing? Are people isolated, doing their own things? Lots of collaboration on work projects? Not much collaboration? How does the social dynamic impact or reflect the organization's work?

The social interactions in my workplace don't seem like anything extravagant. There is the early morning conversation around some coffee and after that it's just a few scattered casual conversations. For the most part it stays pretty isolated, but around twice a week (always at least once) everyone gets together to collaborate on up coming projects. I can't really say that the workplace is very social but it is not isolated either, it seems to have that perfect balance (at least to me) of people talking when we need to and work the rest of the time. The only exception is when anyone is out in the field, in which case it is more social. I think this speaks to how much gets done, tons gets done, people move trees, deliver tons of plant material a day (tons is not an exaggeration).

Photo Essay

In this picture is a cycad, which is a type of plant. The reason this is important is because it is by far one of the most interesting plants I've researched throughout my time at the zoo. The thing that I learned about this that most drew my attention was how old this family stretches back. These particular cycads are not any older than 40 years old, but its family stretches back 150 million years ago dating back to prehistoric times. I think this was a good experience for me because my main job was to find information to connect visitors to plants somehow, either by coming up with human uses for it or really impressive statistics.

This particular picture above is interesting to me because the first time I saw this tree I thought it was a dead tree ready to be removed. After spending some time researching I learned that the large clumps at the end of the branches actually contain seeds for the tree. Along with this tree I've learned a lot about other plants and trees through my time spent researching some of the existing plant collections at the zoo. I feel like this has also given me a new appreciation for these plants because a lot of these serve a purpose for humans, and the experience oozed the phrase "looks can be deceiving."

This picture above is one of the bear habitats, but it is also more than that. It is one of the most impacted animals of the browse program. The browse program is an animal enrichment program through the use of plants and trees. For example, in the background of the picture you can see dead trees, those trees are used for the bears entertainment to climb on and do as they please. The browse program also involves cultivating plants for the use of the zoo and other zoos by delivering plant material to other places for food as well. This area is one of the habitats with the most browse material.

Everyday on my way in, I pass through the Warner Administration Building. The inside is a earthen colored, dimly lit series of rooms, but when I step out of it I always see this same sight full of lush greenery. This is a pretty important place to me because almost everything I've had to research during my internship have been in this garden. I've looked into the ferns, the bamboo, and even the small bonsai trees in the center of the lake. The first time I saw this, the idea of "without a good looking plant design the zoo is just animals in cages" came to me.

Internship post 5: Wednesday, January 19 2011

6. What are you thankful for in your internship experience?

There are many things that I am thankful for in this particular internship. The first one being one of the mini project I did which involved organizing a lot of plant material. Every little piece we looked at, my mentor would give me background information on it and it wasn't something boring or trivial it something interesting and engaging. A good example was watching a pine cone close its self up after being exposed to water, or an airborne seed that has special fibers on it which reflect light in a very peculiar way, almost like a miniature light show.

I also am thankful for how much of an interest my mentor takes in me. He does not give me an assignment and leave me alone. He directs me, assists me, and lets me know of anything of particular interest. The fellow employees I get to work with also help me, even if it's not with my work they can help me find things around the workplace, they can be as simple as the bathroom to the library.

Internship post 4: Friday, January 14 2011

7. What lessons or experiences at you internship will you bring back to school to help you to further improve in your academics?

I think of one the more obvious things that I will be taking back to school from my internship is the research I've done. I spent the first week or so, doing research on things that related to biology and I think that will really help me get ahead or at least better understand what I will be doing in biology this coming semester.

Along with just the simple facts I picked up, the time spent researching really sparked my interest in life sciences. I was supposed to spend time looking at plants, but I also took a look at how it connects to people in terms of it's uses and how they can also connect to the animals. I spent a lot of that time exploring threads from one thing that lead to something completely different and I would catch something interesting and then go off and look at that. So I think it's opened my mind to some new things, as where before I would just try to stick to my strengths rather than explore.

Lastly, one of the most important lessons is about presentation and how it applies to everything. In prior school assignments I would worry about the aesthetics of something last because I did not find them to be important. I thought as long as something achieved it's primary purpose then it was okay in my book. Now when I started at the zoo I was thinking only about the animals there. After researching and spending some time looking at the exhibits and trying to ignore the animals, I figured without all the greenery it was just animals in cages.

Internship post 3: Tuesday, January 11 2011

1. Describe a technical/skill challenge you faced in that affects your ability to complete your project.

A skill challenge that I faced came in the earlier parts of the project. To start I had to do some researching, and after first trying it I did find some information. Once I showed what I had to my mentor he asked me to try going off on tangents a little bit more to see what else I could find that was connected to the plants that I was researching. Now getting into that type of mind set was difficult for two reasons. The first reason was that I am taught never to go off on tangents in school, and that I should stick to subject without trailing off. The second reason was that I hadn't had a freedom like that in my writing in a while so I did not know whether to limit my self as far as going off on tangents.

I spent some time looking through as much as could in terms of information, and spent a bit more trying to filter it. It took a few hours for this idea to sink in, but eventually I got it. It did set me back for a bit since I spent maybe an entire day researching before I was given such freedom. I think my next challenge is to play a bit of catch-up with my work.