Summer Job

Hello Readers,

This is a opossum skull a child
found outside the museum.
Photo Credit: Danielle Gadsby

This summer I had a student position as Visitor Services/Reception at the Lambton Heritage Museum in Grand Bend. I was excited to start a summer position in my Tourism field of study. This position was approximately 67km from my usual residence in Canada, but I had the opportunity to live with my sister which was only 20km from the workplace. This was an option I knew I had but was hesitant because my sister and I hadn't lived under the same roof in about 6 years.

I started my job on June 1st and I worked Saturdays to Wednesdays. Thursdays and Fridays were my days off. It was hard to make plans to visit with friends but that is life and it was much better to be working in my field gaining some experience. I also got to learn more of the History of Lambton County (where I come from) because the Lambton Heritage Museum is the museum that covers the county as a whole.

This is from my personal Snap chat.
My last day was August 29, 2018.
Photo Credit: Danielle Gadsby

The job consisted of sitting at the reception desk and answering any phone calls that came in, ensuring the books were stocked on shelves, answering Tourism Information related questions, and taking admission to the museum.  I was to give an overview of the museum to each customer so they knew what areas they could explore and some key information about different exhibits. The museum was celebrating 40 years open this year so the special summer exhibit contained 40 artifacts over the 40 years from different areas around the county. It also told the story of how the museum started and gave information about the 2 men (Fred Walden and Peter Eisenbach) that donated approximately 6,000 artifacts each when the museum began in 1978.

The customer interaction at the museum is what particularly enjoyed about my time at the museum. I loved hearing about where people were coming from and what they thought of the history of our area, especially if they didn't know anything about Lambton County before coming to Lambton Heritage Museum. The museum is always trying to update the facility and improve their interpretations and exhibits. A task I was completing this summer was re-labeling the entire permanent exhibit, The interpretation labels will soon be put up and they will specifically tell the guests where in the county that specific artifact originates.

 If you are ever in the area to check out the Museum I do recommend it. There is a lot of information and history in this specific museum. If you are from Lambton County and are reading this, you can always go to your local Lambton County Library Branch and obtain a "Free Pass" you check it out just like a book and you have the chance to check out the museum free of charge. This also works for the partner museum located in Oil Springs "Oil Museum of Canada". The Oil Museum of Canada is part of the County of Lambton family which gives you that perk. It is very informative of the 1858 Oil History in North America - The first Commercial Oil Well in North America specifically and details the Oil Industry locally. If you do not have a chance to see these museums in person, be sure to check out their websites as they also have virtual exhibits with a lot of information as well as different exhibits you can not find in the museums.

I am very happy with what I have gained in knowledge this past summer working at Lambton Heritage Museum. I feel like I got to use my tourism knowledge as well as my customer service skills to give the guests a great experience.

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