An elementary school from central Michigan
Fisheries Biology BS 1973, MS 1978
Year of Memory: 1972
As an undergraduate student, I secured a part time position as a tour guide at the Museum of Natural History. My responsibility was to escort school groups through the museum and explain the exhibits in a 30 min informal lecture. I enjoyed the experience which allowed for interesting exchanges with the students (elementary and high school). My most memorable exchange happened one day with a group from central Michigan. I introduced myself to the students and then jumped into my talk by saying that we were going to see how evolution has affected animals over the millennium. From the back of the group, one of the parent chaperones chimed out that “we don’t believe in evolution”. I was momentarily stunned and realized that my educational experience wasn’t exactly in alignment with theirs, but I quickly recovered and looked at the students and said “well, let me show you how animals change over time”. The students were enthused, there were no more comments from the back row and I completed the tour.
