 |
|
|
|
Job Title: Education Curator
Type of Company: I work for a state-owned aquarium.
Education: A.A.S., Cape Fear Community College (Wilmington, NC) •• BA, Biology, Pennsylvania State University
Previous Experience: I worked as an assistant scientist on board a sailing research ship for a year, taught high school for five years (biology, earth science etc.), worked as a fisheries technician for four and I have now worked as an educator at an aquarium for 14 years.
Job Tasks: I manage the education department of a state-owned aquarium. We have six full-time employees and 10-12 seasonal and part-time staffers. I am responsible for interviewing, hiring, training, evaluating and coaching the people we hire. Our staff is very small and I do a fair amount of programming: live animal programs, lecture programs, and field trip programs for school children and the general public. We offer teacher workshops throughout the year. We also host lots of special events for the public: Earth Day, Polar Day, Teacher Appreciation Day etc. I also have a lot of administrative duties, chief among which are the monthly reports I compile tracking the numbers of school children who visit, the numbers of programs we give, how many people attend them and so on.
The education department recruits volunteers to help with every aspect of the aquarium's operation -- horticulture, husbandry, administration, and education -- and we coordinate and train those volunteers.
I work closely with other departments to plan new exhibits and write exhibit copy. I respond to requests for information from the public and spend a lot of time researching my answers. For instance, I'll receive a picture of a bone someone finds on the beach and they want it identified.
Best and Worst Parts of the Job: The best part of my job is identifying things for people or answering their questions. I get great satisfaction from telling people about the ocean environment.
The worst part is dealing with personality issues. Every department in the aquarium has to work together and sometimes when one person does not do his job, it affects everyone else.
Job Tips: Marine biology is a very competitive field so you want to do well in school and take as much science and math as possible. Volunteer in your community. Employers love to see applicants who give of themselves. If you want to get into the aquarium field and you have an aquarium nearby, volunteering is a perfect fit. We have hired a fair number of our volunteers over the years.
The inside stories from people actually working in the field.
Click a story title to show the story, and click the title again to hide it.
All Types
Career Stories are concise, real-world career overviews written by people relating their personal career experiences and wisdom. They provide invaluable insights and mentoring advice to students and career changers.
Most stories include:
Please also see our detailed information about Curators, including:
Copyright © QuinStreet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
