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There are many ways to work with the Museum. You can:

Volunteer

Volunteers are vital! We count on our many dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to help us with many aspects of work at the Museum. They work in concert with staff members to support the Museum’s mission and provide learning experiences for our visitors. Volunteer opportunities include:

The benefits of volunteering include:

If you are interested in volunteering at the Fort Collins Museum, please submit a Volunteer Application (PDF format) or call 970-221-6738 for more details. We couldn’t open our doors without the help of our volunteers!

Become a docent

If you're ready to take your participation at the Museum to the next level, consider training to become a docent. Docents are volunteer educational ambassadors who provide fun, interpretive, and hands-on learning experiences for visitors of all ages. A docent facilitates discovery and connection to the Museum's exhibits and collections, sparking emotion and curiosity within the visitor.

Our overarching requirement is that volunteers must love working with children and speaking in public! We also require that all interested persons complete a volunteer application and interview with a staff member from the Education Department. Finally, volunteer educators must be able to dedicate 2 hours per week for at least one year to the Museum.

Twice a year, in February and September, the Museum offers a 7.5-hour training session held over the course of three weeks for new docents. Docents must attend all three sessions. The training will allow participants to study the tour material, learn from experienced guides, and practice presenting activity stations. After completing these sessions, new volunteers will be paired with experienced volunteer educators during tours until they feel prepared to lead their own activity station.

Please call (970) 416-2705 or email Toby Swaford to learn more about this opportunity for meaningful community involvement with the Fort Collins Museum & Discovery Science Center. We look forward to hearing from you!

Be a collections intern or volunteer

There are two ways to help out in the Museum’s Collections department: as a Collections Volunteer, and as a Student Intern. Both volunteers and interns will have opportunities to work both independently, and with experienced museum staff on a variety of projects and tasks including: cataloguing, storing, and researching artifacts; documenting artifacts through digital photography and data entry; and helping to prepare objects for exhibit.

Student Interns working in Collections should be working on a degree or certificate in anthropology, museum studies, history, or another related discipline. They usually design a specific museum collections project, and work under the joint supervision of a professor and museum staff.

If you are a college student with Work Study as part of your financial aid package, you can apply for a paid position working in the Museum’s Collections and Archives departments. Check the job listings at your Student Employment Office under the job title “Student Paraprofessional, Fort Collins Museum.” For more information on working with the Collections at the Museum, contact Collections Curator Linda Moore at 970-416-2784.

Be an education department intern

The Education Department is currently developing new programs that combine science and history content to fulfill the Museum's new joint mission. Interns will support these efforts by creating one public- or school-audience program that combines science and history content.

We're looking for college undergraduate or graduate students with interest in informal education settings, particularly museum education and interpretation. Knowledge of or interest in history, anthropology, or any science discipline is a plus but not required. You must be able to perform research in libraries, on the Internet, with primary source materials including interviews, and think creatively about potential research sources. You'll also need organizational skills, excellent written and oral communication skills, and be willing to work with diverse people and museum visitors.

Interns must make arrangements with their schools to receive academic credit for an internship. The Fort Collins Museum & Discovery Science Center will provide work documentation as required by your school. For questions about Education Department Internships, please call Curator of Education Treloar Tredennick Bower at 970-416-2768.

Work for us

Currently, the Fort Collins Museum & Discovery Science Center is not hiring. But watch this space for future announcements.