Aira Mitzie C. Puyaoan is a BS Biology student at the Mariano Marcos State University. She took her internship at the Museum of Natural History from 11 July to 10 August 2022 along with some of her schoolmates/co-interns and other co-interns from Manila Central University as a requirement of her subject BIO 198.

She was looking forward to this internship as she is excited to learn more knowledge and skills from UPLB-MNH in different biology disciplines, especially in Botany, Mycology, Zoology, Wildlife Conservation, and of course, Microbiology. The internship was held virtually due to some restrictions brought by the ongoing pandemic, but that did not stop her from learning, enjoying, having fun, and especially connecting to her co-interns from other Universities.

During her time with UPLB-MNH, she, along with her co-interns, explored different fields of biology weekly; in her time with the Botany section, they created a Manual that exposed her, and allowed her to explore how the Museum operates and works, that there is so much more the Museum of Natural History can offer aside from the fantastic collection that can be visited in the said institution. Her mycology week allowed her to explore and know her surroundings by identifying fungi and creating a poster on the identified fungi. Her week in Zoology and Wildlife conservation has opened her eyes to the Museum’s crucial data mining and encoding.

Lastly, her week in microbiology differed from the rest as her co-interns and her were asked to create an audio-visual presentation that centers on the protection of the cave as a whole different ecosystem could be destroyed if the visitors of the cave were not going to be careful. Her four weeks stay was meaningful. It allowed her to learn by watching different visual materials and, at the same time, enjoy doing it. This internship has proved to her that she is on the right path. She learned many things that could not just help her in her academic journey but in life as well.