Saying Goodbye to Banting House

10 weeks from when I started, it’s hard to believe, but my time here at Banting House is almost over! The time has gone so quickly, I feel as though I have only just started!

However, when I look back on my summer here, I see that I have accomplished quite a bit in these short weeks. One of my biggest jobs this summer was to do research for a new exhibit which will be shown at the museum this fall, on diabetic diets and the risks of overconsumption of sugar. It promises to be an interesting exhibit with ties to the past and the present – if you get the chance to check it out, you should! I also worked on Banting and Friends VIII, our annual fundraising event, in addition to researching future fundraising opportunities. Some of the work was more administrative – creating and refining policy manuals.

I also had added responsibility as I ran the museum for three weeks in July this summer, while Grant was on vacation. This led to new responsibilities and challenges – for example, ensuring that the museum operated smoothly on a day-to-day basis and that there were always volunteers here to help out with tours. When Grant came back at the end of July ready to take over the museum again, I am proud to say that Banting House was running in top shape!

And, of course, all summer I was busy giving tours to the many visitors who come to the museum looking to learn more about Dr. Banting and the discovery of insulin. Like last summer, I met many interesting people from all over the world – researchers, diabetics, and people who were interested in learning more about Frederick Banting, a great Canadian. This is my favourite part of the job – I often learn just as much from the people who I give tours to as I teach them!

Before I leave, I’d like to send out a big thank-you to all those who have helped me this year at Banting House. All the volunteers thus summer were fantastic –  they helped make sure each visitor had a unique and exciting experience! I would also like to thank the volunteer coordinator, Terri, for helping organize volunteer hours and ensuring the museum ran smoothly. Finally, I’d like to thank the curator of Banting House, Grant Maltman, for making this job interesting, enjoyable, and full of new experiences!

So thank you, visitors, for reading my blogs – I hope you have found them interesting, and that they’ve given you a better idea of not only what we do at the museum, but also about the life of Frederick Banting and the discovery of insulin.

In September, you’ll see me at the Althouse Faculty of Education at The University of Western Ontario here in London – I’ll be starting my first year of teachers college! Of course, I’ll also be volunteering at Banting House occasionally – I can’t seem to stay away from this place for too long!

This post was written by Kylie Smith. Kylie recently graduated with a B.A. in history and anthropology from The University of Western Ontario, and will be attending teachers college in the fall.