An Intern in Paradise

Hello everybody! I’m Lexi and I am working at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West for the summer of 2026 as the Draper Natural History Museum intern. Through this experience I have worn many different hats and got to experience more than I could ever have imagined! I am so grateful to the Tucker Foundation for funding this experience and to Amy Phillips and Cory Anco for hiring me to work with them this summer.  

I’ll get to the internship in a bit. But first, some background about who I am and why I’m here.

Who am I?  

From an early age I have been fascinated with nature, the earth, and playing outside. Growing up, I was always digging in dirt and exploring my surroundings. Now I am lucky enough to do it every day for my studies. Currently, I am a student at Montana State University studying Earth Science specializing in Geology. I credit my high school Earth Science teacher, Mr. Bushey, with where I am in my education today. He instilled in me a fascination for geology and earth processes that got me excited about a career for once.

My family has always fostered a love of learning in me (I guess that’s what happens when one grandma is a teacher and another is a museum curator!). I’ve loved museums since I was young. To me, museums are a space where curiosity is born. Museums create space for people to think critically and dive deeper into these topics even after they leave the institution. This foundational idea is what inspired me to get into the field. I realized that this is how I can share my passion for earth science with other people, so I started studying museums and museum practice at school. To add a Museum Studies minor to my degree required me to find an internship in a museum, and as soon as I found that out, I had my sights set on the Center of the West.  

The Internship 

The observations

My time at the center has been split into three main categories: visitor surveys and observation, interpretation, and social media. Within each of these categories I have had the opportunity to push myself and grow different skill sets. I spent my first few weeks at the Center learning about and designing visitor observations. Then, I tracked what people were doing in the gallery and how long they were staying in different areas. I used this data to decide on the best layout and presentation for my surveys.  

The Surveys

Using these observations, I ran visitor surveys to figure out what people wanted to learn more about. I created a list of topics which I felt were missing from the gallery.  Then I narrowed the list down to four topics: avalanches, alpine plants, climate science, and the scientific process. Visitors could walk by and place a piece of colored paper to cast their vote. The color of the paper corresponded to a topic from the list. The winning topic? Avalanches!   

The Interpretation

Over the next few weeks, I spent time researching avalanches and interpretive techniques. This helped me decide how best to present the information. I also created drafts of panels that I used later to do more visitor surveying. I learned a lot during this process, and a lot about things that one might not expect. For example, have you ever had to think about finding proper imagery that can be used and altered commercially? I did not expect imagery to be the biggest hurdle for me. It it turns out it is not as easy as I thought! Through this experience I’ve gotten more adept at finding usable imagery much faster. I discovered a few treasure troves that got me through my project. (I’ll link them below).

• OpenVerse
• National Park Service flickr
• Yellowstone National Park flickr
• List of Resources from the Montana State University Library

The Sidequests

I also had the opportunity to work with Ashlea Espinal, the Assistant Curator of the Whitney Western Art Museum, to create a show called EarthWorks. This show has given me the opportunity to push my communication skills even further. The concept is this: I present an artwork from Whitney’s Yellowstone collection and then discuss the geology depicted in the work. My goal is to use interdisciplinary interpretation to help people view the world through a variety of lenses.  

But it’s not all serious business here at the Draper. I’ve also had a bunch of opportunities to learn outside of the museum! 

The Bats 

On week seven I got to go out with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to help in a bat vaccination effort run by the United States Geological Survey. For two nights I met with a group of biologists to capture, measure, vaccinate, and tag bats at the Yellowtail Wildlife Management Area just outside of Lovell, WY.  

As I am not vaccinated against rabies, I was not allowed to touch any of the bats, but every one of the biologists there was happy to teach me about the bats and show me what they were looking at on each one. I learned a lot from the groups and got to talk with quite a few of them about their work and their passion for bats. I learned that during this time of year, the vaccine is primarily administered to adult female bats. The group did not capture very many juvenile bats, but if they did, they were vaccinated regardless of sex. I learned this was because female bats respond the best to the vaccine when they are at their maternity roosts in the summer. It is remarkably interesting that the bat’s response changes throughout the year! 

The Beetles  

Unfortunately for me, these were NOT the John, Paul, George, and Ringo Beatles that I was hoping for! While technically still something I did in the museum, it was outside of my comfort zone. So, what are “the beetles”? Well, the Draper museum has a colony of dermestid beetles, which helps us prepare and clean specimens for our research collection.  

They freaked me out for a long time, but I’ve started to come around to the idea. The work they do for natural history museums and taxidermists around the world cannot be downplayed, and it is just neat to do something I never pictured myself doing.  

The Pinyon Jays  

I had the opportunity to head into the field with the Pinyon Jay team to collect a nest that the techs found. We loaded up bright and early that morning and drove out to the reservoir to hike into the field area. The weather was perfect, and the views were incredible. We walked up the south side of Cedar Mountain into the limber pine forest where Jays nest. On the way, we were surrounded by wildlife: ospreys, hawks, cicadas, we even saw a rattlesnake (much to my dismay).

As soon as we reached the field area, others started shouting out that they were finding nests. I followed Amy to a tree where she had seen one and spent a good amount of time looking, never actually seeing it. Once she pointed it out to me, Amy said something to the effect of “It’s difficult because you’re looking for a pile of twigs within another pile of twigs!”  The team collected the nest and two non-viable eggs and brought them back to the museum.  

Through this whole experience I couldn’t help but look at the incredible geology surrounding the reservoir. Cedar Mountain and Rattlesnake Mountain display mountain building activity from the Rocky Mountain Uplift. It is amazing to think about how this 70-million-year-old geologic structure is supporting the landscape and ecosystems on the surface today!   

The Future 

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to work with the team in the Draper this summer. I’ve learned so much about museum functions, natural history museums, and interpretation. All these skills will serve me long into the future whether I end up working in museums or not! I’m so grateful to Corey and Amy for being so willing to teach me about their work and research, and for letting me tag along for various other excursions.  

This internship has been everything I could have imagined and so much more. Thank you to everyone at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and the Tucker Foundation for continuing to support prospective museum professionals through this program. My experiences here this summer have been incredible, and I hope that countless others can live this too.