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Volunteer Exhibit Hosts Needed for the New Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian

Christine Patrick
Sea Grant Fellow
Ocean Exploration and Research


The Smithsonian’s new Ocean Hall exhibit, developed in partnership with NOAA, is searching for volunteer exhibit hosts to help guide visitors through the awe-inspiring displays.

Opening in September, the Ocean Hall is the largest permanent exhibit ever created in the world’s most visited natural history museum. Among the many notable exhibits will be:

  • A 45-foot, life-sized replica of Phoenix, an endangered North Atlantic right whale living today
  • Nine-foot male and 25-foot female specimens of the elusive giant squid
  • The six-foot Science On a Sphere®, which displays the Earth as viewed from 22,000 miles in space and shows moving satellite images
  • A 1:100 scale model of the world’s largest ocean drilling ship, the Chikyu

There are only a few requirements for being an exhibit host – including being 16 years of age, committing to a 2 to 3 hour shift every other week, and attending orientation and training sessions, which will be begin on September 6. Employees who wish to donate their time during a normal workday may, with supervisory approval, use annual leave, accrued compensatory time, credit hours, or leave without pay.

Sketch showing layout of the ocean hall.

Preliminary artistic rendering of the Ocean Hall, including a 45-foot North Atlantic
right whale model, nine foot male giant squid, and 25 foot female giant squid.
Image credit: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History.


Please share this announcement with family, friends, and colleagues. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis, but to be part of the first class of Ocean Hall exhibit hosts, please apply by August 1. For more information about becoming an exhibit host, see http://www.noaaworld.noaa.gov/other/oceanhallflyer.pdf. For an application, see http://www.mnh.si.edu/education/volunteer_opportunities/ocean.htm. For the latest on Ocean Hall, see http://www.mnh.si.edu/exhibits/ocean_hall.

Questions about being an exhibit host? Please contact Christine Patrick at NOAA (christine.patrick@noaa.gov; 301-734-1030) or Hal Banks at Smithsonian (banksh@si.edu; 202-633-1075).