Furman interns make studying enjoyable at Upstate kids’s museum

Internships are greater than a line on a scholar’s resume. They are alternatives to discover profession paths whereas having a stunning quantity of enjoyable.

Three Furman University college students are spending their summer time mixing studying and play via internships at The Children’s Museum of the Upstate. Anna Richardson ’26 – a historical past main from Hartwell, Georgia set to graduate in December – and training research main Faith Mohr ’27 from Westminster, Maryland, are play and studying interns who get to share their pursuits and passions with the kids and households that go to this playground of a museum.

“I grew up coming to The Children’s Museum, so I was very excited when I saw there were several opportunities here,” Richardson mentioned. “When little kids are learning, you can see the gears in their heads turning. They’re like sponges, and they absorb any information or experience you give them.”

In their roles, Richardson and Mohr assist design actions and classes for 2 areas of the museum: the science and technology-based SteamWORKS, and Tots, which serves kids ages 2-5.

At a museum that focuses on play-based studying, these Paladins can get inventive in how they construct experiences for guests. While getting ready classes for an upcoming program on medication and genetics, Mohr is trying to make use of coloured beads to characterize genes on genetic strands made out of pipe cleaners. Quite a lot of supplies, colours and patterns provides college students a number of methods to have interaction with the lesson, whereas honing their motor expertise, dramatic play, quantity literacy and different important developmental expertise.

“You start to have a brand-new perspective on what children can do,” Mohr mentioned. “They have so much going on in their brains, we just have to equip them with tools to express that.”

While Furman’s interns get expertise, skilled connections and perspective on a attainable profession path out of their internship, their employers additionally get contemporary eyes and enthusiasm in return. Ainsley Pruitt, play and studying supervisor on the Children’s Museum, mentioned she cherishes the chance to be an expert mentor and encourages interns to take possession over their work. In flip, they create novel approaches to applications the museum has been operating for years.

“An internship might not always be in the career you want to end up in, but it can be a place to experiment and experience new things,” she mentioned.

Meg Sabo ’27 is an training research and communication research double main additionally working on the museum this summer time as a model and advertising and marketing intern. She knew she wished an internship that flexed her digital advertising and marketing, design and images expertise, however didn’t suppose she’d have the ability to mix that have along with her profession targets of changing into a kindergarten instructor.

All three college students are pursuing careers as educators, however they’ve every taken their very own path to get there. Mohr can also be interning on the Greenville Literacy Association and went on a May Experience journey this summer time to study approaches to training in Finland and Italy. This is Richardson’s third summer time in an internship as she gears as much as pursue the Greenville Alternative Teacher Education program. For Sabo, the Children’s Museum is her first internship expertise after two Study Away alternatives.

“I was so stressed out that I wouldn’t find anything, let alone something that I enjoyed,” Sabo mentioned. “But thanks to Furman and the internship office, I found the perfect experience for me.”

To be taught extra about internship alternatives via Furman University, click on right here.