Journey Magazine 2015 | Page 54

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY OFFERS JUNIOR CURATOR CAMP The Junior Curator Camp was presented as part of the College of Sciences and Mathematics Office of Outreach summer enrichment academy, Science Matters. Science Matters offers youngsters a supercharged science experience where participants explore the world through science experiments, enrichment activities, technology and art projects, and hands-on, make-and-take activities. The program includes multiple science-themed weeks of programing, including the Museum of Natural History’s Junior Curator Camp. For more information on the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, visit www.auburn.edu/cosam/aumnh. For more information on the programs offered by COSAM’s Office of Outreach, go to the website at www.auburn.edu/cosam/outreach. Pictured left: Tetrapods Collections Manager David Laurencio works with junior curators as they explore fossils. Pictured bottom: Aquatic Invertebrates Collections Manager Brian Helms checks a trap for critters and discovers a lizard. The Auburn University Museum of Natural History hosted a new outreach program in summer 2015, the Junior Curator Camp. The two-week program is designed for middle school age children and provides a hands-on opportunity to learn what it’s like to be a curator in the Museum of Natural History. This year, approximately 40 junior curators learned about local flora and fauna, and they received personalized instruction from museum staff on how scientists collect, identify, and prepare specimens to be deposited in the museum. The camp began with a behind-the-scenes tour of the Museum of Natural History, and museum staff gave presentations on the various collections. Much of the program brought the junior curators outdoors to explore local ponds and woods where they participated in a raptor release; learned to identify native plants; and collected and identified all manner of reptiles, fish, invertebrates, amphibians, insects, and more. Participants also completed art projects, and at the end of the camp, they competed in frog, crayfish, and toad races. 54 Journey/Fall: 2015