Christian Jericko S. Badua is a third-year BS in Biology student at Mariano Marcos State University. He took his internship from February 12 to March 15, 2024 along with some of his schoolmates/co-interns, and was assigned to the Botany Track during his internship stay at the UPLB-MNH.

Christian had always been deeply fascinated with all things science. Even at a young age, he was already quite curious of the things he saw around him. Of the questions he had, he sought for answers himself; his only guide being the few piles of books and encyclopedias his parents bought for him. This innate curiosity led to him being quite fascinated with the beauty and complexity of nature and life; which is one of the main driving forces behind his dream to be a successful doctor one day, with the full intent of saving or maybe prolonging someone’s life.

Christian began his internship with only vague ideas about what museum and herbarium work entails, but what was undoubtedly certain was his intent and desire to learn. His internship stay allowed him to be immersed in the expected work of a staff of the CAHUP or Botanical Herbarium. He was able to learn and do some technical aspects of museum work including encoding of data, sorting specimen, making a character matrix and presenting a sample presentation on the Menispermaceae family. He was also able to perform manual tasks such as pressing and drying of plant specimen, mounting these specimen to herbarium sheets as well as storing them.

However, his learnings were not confined to the four walls of the CAHUP. He was also able to witness some interesting fauna and flora during their hikes along the Mt. Makiling Trail, which deepened his appreciation of wildlife. Lastly, he was also a part of extension activities of the museum, including the Café Scientifique, where he was able to learn about the importance of scientific illustration, and why attention to detail, scale and measurement is important when it comes to depicting plants or animals through the use of drawing. Overall, his internship was a holistic learning experience, which left him with a lasting, irreplaceable understanding and love for plants.