Her passion, that blossomed at the Museum, inspired her to major in geology at UTC with future plans of becoming a paleontologist studying Pleistocene mammals.
Alyssa’s parents encouraged her budding interest by giving her countless books about minerals and dinosaurs. “I just couldn’t believe people could get jobs working with rocks or dinosaur bones,” says Alyssa. “I knew that was what I wanted to do.”
As a student, Alyssa volunteered at the Museum at the Natural Treasures Trading Post. She helped children bringing in their treasures from the outdoors learn more about the item and trade for other things, such as fool’s gold or bits of amethyst. “I would have loved the Trading Post when I was a kid,” says Alyssa. Volunteering led her to working at the Museum as a Museum Educator while she studies at UTC. You will find her in a blue lab coat working alongside many other college students employed at the Museum.
“Unless I had come to the Museum as a child, I don’t think I would have developed an interest in geology or paleontology,” says Alyssa. “It wasn’t something my friends were interested in at the time, but I became passionate about it.”
