Intern Spotlight: Kali Sipp
I've had the pleasure of working alongside a handful of superb collections volunteers and interns over the past few years. Each contribute invaluable insight and energy into the work we do at the Museum. This week, we'll learn a bit more about Summer Naturalist/Geologist Intern, Kali. They are a recent geologist graduate with "an unending thirst to learn more about any subject given to them."
In your own words, tell us about your work so far at the Museum and what you're excited about working with or learning in the collection.
My
time at the museum thus far has been absolutely grand. Near the beginning I had
a good time going through a new addition to the rocks and minerals part of the
collection. It was a mess of organization and crumbling labels—an ongoing
project, really. But I managed to compile much of it into a more navigable
setup. Using this museum donation and other samples we had in collections, I
managed to stitch together a mineral cabinet display, detailing the different
groups of minerals. It was a fantastic learning experience and loads of fun!
The other part of my first month with the museum was teaching school field trip
groups about the Geology of the Northwoods. I included much in my time
teaching, including the difference between rocks and minerals, the rock cycle,
and, of course, the geologic history of Northern Wisconsin. It was a good
challenge to teach kids about these topics, knowing what to leave out was
difficult because I know so much and I wanted to teach them so much.
Working with kids has bled over into me now teaching the Junior Naturalists.
Now it’s a lot less geology focused, and more biology and ecology focused. Both
of which are subjects I am familiar with, but lesson planning each day has
proven a challenge for me. It takes a lot to plan out two hours of activities
for kids each day.
Can you describe a favorite museum specimen, display, or exhibit? It doesn't have to be from the Cable Natural History Museum!
A
favorite exhibit of mine has got to be the Evolving Planet exhibit at
the Field Museum in Chicago. I have been going to the Field Museum ever since I
was a tyke and have been obsessed with dinosaurs and other prehistoric
creatures for just as long. But my favorite part of the exhibit is certainly
SUE, the informal name given to the near complete T. Rex fossil with the
official designation of FMNH PR 2081.
SUE was a main fixture of my childhood but has re-fixed their self as an
important figure in my adult life. Not only for their importance to science,
but for being a queer icon—as a recent study suggests we don’t actually know
the gender of SUE, and as a result queer scientists advocate for SUE using
they/them pronouns. It’s nice to know I have a 10-ton murderbird advocating for
my own use of they/them pronouns!
What are some of your hobbies/interests involving the natural world? What would you like to learn or what new skills would you like to develop?
In the first half of this year, much of my time spent after classes was spent in the Northland College Geology Lab. There, I was oftentimes peering down the microscope at petrographic thin sections—a fancy way of saying slices of rock so thin you could shine a light through them. I was learning how to use a polarizing light microscope for a research project in addition to taking microphotographs of these thin sections for the CNHM.
Though, I really had no idea what I was doing in the beginning, I was essentially teaching myself how to use this new tool using online tutorials and other reading materials. I had an absolute blast doing it, to say the least, spending upwards of five hours after classes in the lab just looking down the scope. But now I yearn to learn more about how I can apply this knowledge of microscopes further.
What's one thing you wish everyone knew about the Museum or our collection?
Thanks, Kali!