Farewell

Well it’s sad to say but today is my last day here at Banting House National Historic Site of Canada. It is always amazing how fast time flies when you’re busy. I am sad to be leaving such a great workplace where I have learned so much, but am also excited to start my next chapter which will be taking me to Toronto, and later, Long Island, New York.

I began my time here thinking that insulin was Frederick Banting’s only claim to fame but oh how wrong I was! Not only was Banting a decorated war hero, but he was an accomplished painter, a humanitarian, a Canadian through and through always thinking of his country’s best interests, a pioneer in aviation research and an inventor. He peaked young winning the Nobel prize for insulin at 32 but always strove to do more with his life. I can only hope to follow Banting’s mentality as I continue my journey and strive to do my best.

I feel that I have gotten a handle on a wide range of tasks and skills while completing my RA Placement, which is what I was hoping to gain from the experience and which will help me in the future. This semester has seen me working on social media, reproduction and copyright policies which have already proven useful, refining my interpretation and tour guide skills (something I really enjoy), creating and refining school programs meant for university students, blog writing,  cataloguing (one of the reasons I have landed a great summer internship opportunity), interesting research and a host of other things. I know that the skills I have learned over the last few months will be a great foundation from which to start my professional career in the public history field.

While I have always pictured myself staying within the museum realm, this placement and Western’s program have opened my eyes up to other opportunities out there which deal with heritage and history in all sorts of ways. I hope to remain flexible in the future and am excited to see where public history will take me.

Banting House National Historic Site of Canada has been an awesome place to work and I will definitely be back for a visit in the future! If you haven’t already, I highly recommend stopping by to learn about Sir Frederick Banting and all the amazing things he did, insulin being just one of them.

Until next time!

Julia

This post was written by Julia Schwindt, Graduate Research Assistant at Banting House NHSC. Julia is currently completing her M.A. Public History at Western University.