New Outreach Program Takes Flight: Florida Museum, CPET and Department of Entomology provides Natural History Collections Experience to School Students

As summer break comes to an end for Alachua County schools, we would like to share this brief account of how the staff of the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity contributed to our school students’ summer experience. Together with the staff of UF CPET, we created and led a weeklong Museum-related experience, which included visits to nature, making insect collections, visiting a variety of collections and labs, and even making a small, personal Lepidoptera collection.

Collaboration between the Florida Museum of Natural History and the UF CPET is not new. For the last several years, the museum has provided tours and training for students and teachers. But this summer, for the first time, we offered a full-week experience in natural history collections to a group of 10 middle school students.

Composite: camp offered a variety of activities from visiting a honeybee lab to visiting natural areas, and from learning about invertebrates to making a personal insect collection. — The camp offered a variety of activities from visiting a honeybee lab to visiting natural areas, and from learning about invertebrates to making a personal insect collection.

McGuire Center’s Collections Coordinator and Entomology Affiliate Associate Professor, Andrei Sourakov, teamed up with UF CPET’s Associate Director (Hazel Levy) and UF CPET’s GatorLabs Program Coordinator (Morgan Nielsen), the Daniels Lab, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UF IFAS Honeybee Research and Extension Lab, Invertebrate Zoology and Ichthyology Collections, and Digital Imaging Division’s Photogrammetry Lab to provide a new and unforgettable experience for the students. The group explored Florida native habitats for insects and plants and were given tours by experts in mollusks, flatworms, fish, bees, and butterflies and moths.

Visiting Florida Museum “wet” collections building began with coming face to face with some large alligator skulls. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

Invertebrate Zoology Collections Manager, John Slapcinsky, demonstrating a squid specimen to CPET participants. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

This squid was found dead on the beach in Florida and is now housed at the Florida Museum’s invertebrate collection. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

Viewing an octopus specimen in the Invertebrate Zoology collection of the Florida Museum. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

Invertebrate Zoology Collections Manager, Amanda Bemis, showing CPET students a giant isopod. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

Following a major collecting expedition there are many specimens that are being processed into the collection by the museum staff. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

Ichthyology Collections Manager, Rob Robbins, showing CPET students the fish collection. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

CPET students and camp leaders alike were fascinated by the size and diversity of the Florida Museum collections. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

Having the Natural Area Teaching Laboratory (NATL) located between the Florida Museum and the Entomology Department allowed for a hands-on experience of making collections and observing Florida plants and insects in their native habitats. CPET students also received a tour of the McGuire Center Molecular Lab given by lab manager Taylor Pierson. Students learned about the process of extracting DNA and preserving butterfly and moth voucher specimens for molecular work.

CPET students made daily excursions into the Natural Area Teaching Laboratory (NATL) to observe and collect insects and plants. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

Matthew Standridge of the Daniels lab leading the CPET exploration in NATL. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

Matt is demonstrating how to prepare a specimen of Luna Moth. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

CPET students learning how to prepare Lepidoptera specimens for a scientific collection. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

CPET students on a tour of the Molecular Lab given by lab manager Taylor Pierson, at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

Students learning about the process of extracting DNA and preserving voucher specimens for molecular work. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

CPET students visiting UF IFAS Bee Lab and looking at a portable beehive together with the lab manager, Chris Oster. Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

Chris showing students how the bees can be observed without being disturbed under red-light conditions (bees can’t see red light and perceive it as darkness). Florida Museum photo by Andrei Sourakov

By the end of the one-week-long course, students acquired knowledge of the scope and importance of UF’s natural history collections and learned the basics of preparing and identifying specimens. They also became familiar, thanks to the tours led by professional entomologists and zoologists, with the diversity of insects, plants, invertebrates, and fishes. While visiting UF IFAS Bee Lab, students examined honeybees inside see-through beehives, while the lab manager, Chris Oster, explained the bees’ fascinating behavior.

UF CPET/Florida Museum camp group photo — UF CPET/Florida Museum summer program 2026 at the Department of Entomology and Nematology on the University of Florida campus.

Source: Andrei Sourakov, McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History

Contact: Hazel C. Levy, UF Center for Precollegiate Education and Training (CPET)