Four hectic days in the lives of the new Joggins Fossil Cliffs Employees

Who we are:

Hi, I’m Rachel, I hail from Amherst NS.

I am the new Visitor Services Assistant, and you will see my face as soon as you walk in the front doors, hopefully with a smile and a greeting. I do a bit of everything (as does everyone else) with the exception of giving tours, I’m not quite there yet.

You will see me down on the beach from time to time advising you of tide times.

Hi. My name is Afiqah and I am from Malaysia.

Being able to work in Joggins is like a dream come true for a Geologist like me. My position as an interpreter requires me to lead tours and work in the Exhibition Gallery most of the time.

I love talking, sharing and inspiring other people on the exciting new discoveries of fossils here in Joggins. I am very excited by my position and I hope to learn as much as I can here.

Come and visit Joggins and I promise that you will have a great time!

We also have a fellow new co-worker Nicole who hails from Halifax, who has completed her first year in Geology at Dalhousie; Nicole is bilingual in French and English and will be giving tours in both languages this summer. We know that Nicole is also very excited to be working here with us for the summer.

Now here’s a little taste of what our First week at the Joggins Fossil Institute looked like:

Day One:
We were introduced to the staff, each other and the Institute. We discovered the reasons behind why The Fossil Cliffs became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, had a tour of the award-winning Joggins Fossil Centre and learned about the green features of the building. We were also introduced to the Cliffs in a half hour tour.

Day Two:
After an interesting drive down to the Lower Cove beach, we started on a four hour tour led by the Curator Melissa, and our fellow experienced interpreters, Matt, Cat, Tammy and Elizabeth. We learned how to give a tour and how to identify fossils lying on the beach and up in the cliffs. We also learned the safety measures and precautions needed when walking near the cliffs and on the beach. After our tour and a brief lunch we were introduced to the Director, Jenna, who gave an in-depth discussion on UNESCO and World Heritage.

Day Three:
After a long day on the beach on day 2, our morning was spent with Melissa, learning why the fossils are so significant and about the Carboniferous Period. Before lunch we went out in our teams and learned how to give an engaging half-hour tour.
Later on that day we were trained in the role of an interpreter and what interpretation means. We got to do a team building exercise with Melanie, Operations Coordinator which looked at presenting facts, fiction or legends about certain stories and folklore and how to make information, whatever the subject interesting for different groups.

Day Four:
We had the ‘Give ‘Em the Pickle’ customer service presentation by Anna-Marie Weir, which was both fun and informative. So from now on, if you ask us for a pickle we’ll give you one!

We are all very excited for what the summer holds for us in our new positions and we hope that you will come down to meet us, we’d love to meet you all!