Rockin' at Riot Fest with Pokémon: volunteering for Field Museum

One thing I appreciate about being a part of PRSSA is the opportunities it provides. Through the many connections we have, we get the most interesting chances to gain hands-on experience. My most recent experience was getting to volunteer at Riot Fest for the Field Museum! 

As an extreme concert and festival-goer, I was so excited when I learned about this opportunity! Music is a huge part of my life, so I immediately signed up to help on Saturday. Aside from being able to see shows before and after the shift in exchange for volunteering my time, I couldn’t wait to take an opportunity as intriguing as this! Growing up, The Field Museum was a childhood staple, whether I was visiting with my family or going on a school field trip.

The job itself was simple, yet fun. One part of it was greeting people, and giving them fun Field Museum merchandise, like stickers, fake tattoos, fans and more! The hot topic of course was the Pokémon Fossil Museum exhibit, an exhibition comparing Pokémon and their anatomy to real dinosaur fossils, and there were sticker sheets and posters to advertise the event. It truly was a joy handing these items out and seeing people get excited about the exhibit, especially to kids who I could tell adored Pokémon. As someone who went to the exhibit a few months back and loved it, I truly encouraged people to go see it.

The other part of the experience was taking photos for festival-goers, in front of a photobooth and a dinosaur sculpture; this was designed so it looked like you were wreaking havoc among the city along with the dinosaur. It was so fun seeing how differently people would pose for their pictures; I got a good laugh out of it.

Additionally, I want to mention how great it was to work with the Field Museum team. Everyone working the booth was welcoming, and was more than happy to explain to me the details about the Pokémon exhibit as well as the different dinosaurs on all the fake tattoos. I want to especially give a thank you to Bella Koscal, as she was incredibly insightful and let me pick her brain about all my PR and communications questions.

The experience did not end right away when my volunteer shift ended. Right after we wrapped up, I found my friend and we immediately raced over to the Riot Stage to see Tool. Tool had been on my band bucket-list for years, so I knew I had to see them at Riot Fest this year. While there was the downside of the festival being a tad short due to the rain, it was still so much fun!

This was a really great opportunity to explore what the Field Museum team works on while being able to enjoy some music, and I wouldn’t have found out about it if it weren’t for DePaul PRSSA. I really recommend to get involved in PRSSA; Who knows, maybe you can have this experience next year!