The MSU Museum is looking for docents, or volunteers, to lead group tours and explain artifacts and exhibits to visitors.
The museum is a Smithsonian affiliate which means it has received its stamp of approval from the Smithsonian for being a good museum. They also trade specimens with each other throughout the year.
Even though this is an unpaid position, it offers many educational benefits like access to the many educational books in the docent library, learning from the exhibits themselves, and working with children and other guests.
“I’d like people to be outgoing, but mostly we’d like them to just be passionate. We want them to be excited about the stuff we have here at the museum whether that’s science or culture,” Nick VanAcker, a museum educator, said.
There are currently almost thirty docents, but they are always looking for more, VanAcker said. Docents have more training than volunteers.
They work at least one shift a week, but are able to come in whenever they would like to and, even though they are trained to the whole museum, they are able to work in the galleries they enjoy.
“We want people to be where they’re helpful,” VanAcker said.
There are four evening training shifts in November where trainees learn everything they need to be a docent in the museum.
For more information, you can visit their website.