Curating Curiosity

The experiences that shape me the most are always the ones that begin with uncertainty.

Just a few weeks before beginning my summer internship, I was studying ecology, evolution, and conservation in Ecuador. I learned that growth doesn’t come from always knowing what you’re doing; rather, it comes from trusting your curiosity enough to step into spaces where you don’t. I returned home determined to continue following that feeling at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

When I accepted the position as a conservation intern with the Mammalogy Research and Collections team, I knew I was stepping into another unfamiliar world, ready to ask questions, learn from incredibly knowledgeable people, and discover where my own experiences would contribute in meaningful ways. Thanks to the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Scully and the USC Wrigley Institute, I was able to spend ten weeks doing exactly that.

Whether I’m studying environmental science, geospatial technology, business, longevity science, policy, or communication, I find myself asking the same central question: How do all of these pieces fit together? To me, sustainability has never existed within a single discipline. A healthy environment influences public health, business, government, education, and every community that depends upon it. Solving environmental challenges requires understanding those connections.

Museums are places that quietly preserve the future. Every specimen entering the museum carries the possibility of answering questions that scientists haven’t even thought to ask yet.

This curiosity is what drew me to this internship.

Museums are places that quietly preserve the future. Every specimen entering the museum carries the possibility of answering questions that scientists haven’t even thought to ask yet. Some arrived from retired museum collections. Others came from zoos, wildlife rehabilitation centers, roadkill, or private donations. My role was to help move each specimen through the entire collection process, from the moment it arrived to its permanent place within the museum’s research collections. Along the way, I prepared specimens, preserved tissue samples, managed scientific records, digitized historical collections, and helped ensure that every piece of information would remain accessible to future researchers.

Each specimen serves as a time capsule. A tissue sample collected today may one day help scientists understand how climate change affected a population decades earlier. A bone preserved now could later reveal changes in diet through isotope analysis. DNA stored in our freezers might answer questions that don’t exist in the present. The work happening behind the scenes isn’t simply about preservation–it’s about protecting future possibilities.

One project that especially stayed with me involved digitizing the museum’s tissue collection. Thousands of samples, some collected more than a century ago, had existed only as handwritten records. We carefully labeled each sample with individual QR codes, entered the information into digital databases, and prepared it to become part of a global network accessible to researchers around the world. What once lived quietly inside a freezer at -80°C suddenly became available to scientists everywhere. I found that transformation incredibly meaningful. Knowledge only creates impact when people can access it.

That idea surfaced again and again throughout the summer.

One week, I was helping unpack USC’s former education collection (transferred in 2024) as it officially became part of the museum’s permanent holdings. Another week, I was preparing a langur specimen (a species of primate) whose fingers still carried traces of glitter from the Los Angeles Zoo. Later, I found myself working alongside six other interns to prepare a giant orangutan, and then led the cataloging of a newly recognized Southern California woodrat species. No two days ever looked the same, and that constant change became one of my favorite parts of the internship.

Equally memorable were the opportunities to step beyond mammalogy altogether. Throughout the summer, we visited departments across the museum, including anthropology, community science, conservation and collection care, entomology, herpetology, ichthyology, mineral sciences, ornithology, vertebrate paleontology, and invertebrate paleontology. Every department approached similar challenges from a completely different perspective, and every conversation introduced another way of thinking, another question I hadn’t considered, and another connection I hadn’t made.

That collaborative spirit reminded me of why I chose USC in the first place.

Throughout college, I’ve found myself continually drawn toward opportunities that sit at the intersections of different fields. My experiences have all pointed toward the same realization: I’m not only interested in generating scientific knowledge; I’m equally interested in what happens after discovery. How do we communicate it? Who has access to it? How do we use the information for societal benefit? This internship strengthened my belief that my future lies in bridging those answers.

This summer was a reminder that the most meaningful growth happens when you are willing to become beginners again. Each experience has added another perspective; another question; another piece of a much larger picture. And for that opportunity, I am incredibly grateful.

Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Scully and the USC Wrigley Institute for supporting students who choose exploration, embrace uncertainty, and trust that every new experience has something valuable to teach. Your generosity didn’t simply fund an internship–it gave me another place to discover and evolve who I am becoming and the mark I want to make.