One of the perks of my job is my boss understanding the importance of volunteering in the community. He volunteers his time as an elected official where he lives and I volunteer my time working at a local museum.
Battleship Wisconsin is berthed at Nauticus. I volunteer within the education department every Wednesday and it's been a huge blessing. Not only does it make me happy to volunteer, but I also get the opportunity to step away from my computer and do something different.
With COVID-19, moving to a new place and working from home, I started noticing that I was getting depressed without any real human interaction throughout the day. I thrive when I am around other people and I love people watching. I needed to get myself out of the funk of sadness.
My parents suggested to me that I find a volunteer job. If you know me, you know that I take on anything that I do with the intention of giving it my all. To say that I jumped in with both feet and hit the ground running would be an understatement.
Young Megan on the decks of the USS Wisconsin
I look forward to my Wednesday shift with the education department every week. When I first started, I didn't know a whole lot about the ecology and marine animals that I was giving lectures on. Now, I sit next to the shark tank and horseshoe crab exhibit and talk all about the animals and what they mean to our oceanic environment.
I think another part of me loves the fact that I can pass on some of my battleship knowledge and passion to the next generation. I remember being a kid who hated that my family dragged me to all kinds of historical sites. We were not a family who visited Walt Disney World every summer. I spent many hot days walking around Boston or Virginia, being educated on at the time, the most boring of subjects.
Then there is the bonding aspect.
My stepdad has been in my life since I was about eight years old. My mom was careful about introducing another man into mine and my brother's lives. Originally, I didn't like him at all. I thought he was this man who was coming to take my mom away from me. I am also a huge Daddy's Girl and never wanted someone to replace my dad. We grew through that all together as a family and we're closer than ever.
Sitting next to our shark exhibit during a Wednesday shift
Every Wednesday before my shift, my stepdad and I get lunch together in the cafeteria of the museum. He's usually enjoying a chili dog while I opt for a lobster roll. He tells me what sorts of projects he has going on at his boat, and I tell him about what I've been doing in education that day.
I love sitting by the shark tank, educating guests on the sharks we have in our tanks. You'll also find me teaching about ROV's and their importance in ocean exploration. If you want to know how companies clean battleships and protect them from the elements, I'm your girl. Find me on the third floor and I'll tell you all I can.
I've also been blessed to have had the opportunity to create my own programs about the US Navy. I enjoy military history; you can almost always find me with a documentary playing or in the pages of a history book. I put together a program about the holidays and how they are celebrated on ships in November, and I'm following that program up with another about the awards and battle stars that Battleship Wisconsin has received.
I always thought that having a volunteer job would be boring. It seemed like I would be putting in all these hours and not getting paid for it would bother me. What I've learned is that sometimes, it's not about money, but doing something that betters the community and yourself that's more important.
Signing off,
Comments