Students can get paid to help with Anthropology Museum move

Rodolfo+Otero+%28front%29+left+and+Olivia+Havens+%28back+right%29+discuss+plans+for+moving+the+artifacts+of+the+Anthropology+Museum+on+Sept.+20.+The+Anthropology+Museum+is+currently+on+the+third+floor+of+the+Arts+and+Behavioral+Sciences+Building.+%28Anthony+Lipari+%7C+The+Union%29

Rodolfo Otero (front) left and Olivia Havens (back right) discuss plans for moving the artifacts of the Anthropology Museum on Sept. 20. The Anthropology Museum is currently on the third floor of the Arts and Behavioral Sciences Building. (Anthony Lipari | The Union)

Students can make $16 per hour to help the Anthropology Department with moving items to their new location in the Arts Complex Building at El Camino College.

Christina Gold, Dean of Behavioral and Social Sciences said there are three job openings with the faculty and the museum itself.

“It’s a really wonderful opportunity,” Gold said. “They will get to learn how to catalog items, identify the objects [and] collect information about where it came from.”

Gold said students should speak to anthropology instructors Marianne Waters, Rodolfo Otero, or Angela Mannen to sign up.

Otero said that students must be enrolled at least part-time at El Camino College to be eligible to earn money and help with the moving process.

Gold said the funding for student workers is coming from their division’s student worker fund.

Located next to the library, The Anthropology Museum will relocate to its new home by the fall semester in 2023.

The museum is currently located on the third floor of the Arts and Behavioral Science Building and will be torn down in Feb. 2023, museum clerk Olivia Havens said.

The Anthropology Museum was created in the 1970s by Walter Foster, who also became the museum’s first director.

Dioramas created by students in the 1970s can still be found in the museum, as highlighted in an article written by Chloe Chetty for The Union.

Havens said she is excited because the new location will bring more people to the museum.

“Nobody knows we’re up here,” Havens said.

Havens said that the moving supplies themselves cost over $1,000. These supplies would include boxes, tape and wrapping materials like bubble wrap.

Gold said the money for the move is coming from construction funds.

“[It’s] usually from a bond,” Gold said. “A bond is when the local area will vote to approve construction at the community college.”

Otero said that while the new museum will be slightly larger, they will be able to have events and more space for exhibits.

“There is an area for presentations where the screen comes down from the ceiling,” Otero said. “And the [display] cases will be strategically located.”

Anthropology major Sebastian Wade Amaral said he is excited about the move.

“The professors with the Anthropology Department have always talked about wanting to get a new museum, to have a larger collection, to have its own separate room and building,” Amaral said.

Amaral said the new museum would bring a sense of calm to him.

“It’s a completely different environment to go from the busy corridors and tables and Library to walk into that museum,” Amaral said. “To the point that whenever I would feel stressed about something that would be my go-to place.”

The move is currently ongoing.