Brent A. Alonzo is a BS Biology Major in Microbiology student from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. He took his internship at the University of the Philippines Los Baños Museum of Natural History from August 8, 2022 to September 19, 2022 together with his batchmates/co-interns as a requirement for his subject BIOL 40023 or Laboratory Apprenticeship.

Brent describes himself as an independent, competent, and eager individual. He is considered to be a jack of all trades. Brent is an aspiring medical doctor who plans to pursue medicine immediately after his undergraduate studies. He enjoys reading books, particularly those that are under the self-help genre. His other hobbies include playing online games, listening to music, and watching western series. Brent is a self-proclaimed anime lover who mainly enjoys the Shōnen genre. Fullmetal Alchemist, My Hero Academia, and Demon Slayer are some of his favorites.

In his time with UPLB MNH, he was assigned to the Mycology and Microbiology Department together with his co-interns. He spent the first four weeks at the Mycology department and the last two weeks at the Microbiology department. The virtual internship training offered by the museum consisted of lectures, webinars, tasks, and work-related projects. In the course of their internship in the Mycology department, they were tasked to collect and identify fungal specimens, present the specimens in a creative poster, attend lectures, present a presentation about a certain topic, and help in the organization of the museum’s mycology herbarium database. For the Microbiology department, they were given several recorded webinars from various experts that tackled different topics, such as the MCC History, MCC Roles and Functions, Phenotypic and Genotypic Characterization of different bacteria, and etc. In addition, they were also tasked to make and present a creative poster about various microbiology topics.

The weeks he spent training as an intern at the UPLB MNH was a one of a kind experience that he will surely remember throughout his life. He enjoyed everything that they did in the Mycology and Microbiology departments. It was challenging, exciting and fulfilling. His skills on critical thinking, communication, presentation, and creativity were trained and strengthened during the six weeks. The internship training has made him develop a stronger sense of love and appreciation for his course and specialization. He offers his sincerest gratitude to everyone at the museum for the learnings, knowledge, and opportunity they have shared.