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Week Four at the Witte: Reflection [Estrella Hernandez]

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It’s been quite difficult for me to write this blog post. My time as a Young Ambassador was so rich, and so full of amazing moments, that it was hard to summarize. Distance from my experience, both in terms of time and space, have given me the opportunity to reflect on why I found it so impactful. Being a Young Ambassador helped me to develop my professional skills, explore my identity as a Mexican-American, and revitalized my passion for civic engagement. My mentors at the Witte were so amazing! They wrote me a very sweet note, and gave me some awesome parting gifts. I was able to finish my main project, a “Witte Walk” centered around San Antonio’s Tricentennial Exhibition. The sections I found most difficult to complete weren’t necessarily the oldest ones. I really enjoyed getting to go back in history, before my city was even founded, to understand the confluence of events that led to its creation. I found myself delving into the history of indigenous tribes, Spanish missionari...
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My Last Week

As cheesy as it is, I can’t believe I’ve already come to my last week as an intern at The Children’s Museum of Houston. I’m incredibly thankful to everyone here who has made this such a great, and challenging, experience. I have to give a special shout out to Alleigh and Cathy (my supervisors), for helping me find ways to pursue my own interests here at the museum. At the end of last week, Cathy told me she’d gotten me a little assignment from the P.R. department to write an article on the superhero show, just so I could have something to do in the realm of journalism/communications. This was such a sweet gesture, and a great opportunity because the article will be featured in the museum’s newsletter. So on Monday, I attended both showings of “Power Up!” and interviewed families who had come to see the show more than once this summer. I asked them what they liked about the show, who their favorite hero is, and what it means to the kids to hear ‘hey, you can be a hero ...
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Last Week at the Museum of Latin American Art

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Last Week at the Museum of Latin American Art The last week at MOLAA was definitely a memorable culmination of the past three weeks of summer art camp. From the deinstallation of all the galleries at the museum, to the party for all summer art camp volunteers, and the installation of the art gallery "Undocumented Stories", this last week was was to remember. The first days were spent deinstalling all the galleries at the museum. This was a rather tedious job since I was given the task of removing the vinyl lettering placed on the walls of the exhibitions which provided background information on the artwork and pieces. This showed me the much thought that is put into the creation of exhibits and the message that is portrayed to the audience.  Additionally, I was also given the task of coordinating and creating a celebration party for the summer art camp volunteers who generously volunteered their time for three weeks. The party was Havanna themed which left me and...
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Taking A Walk On The “Science” Side Of Life

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After having a week off on a family vacation, I have to say I was ready to be back at The Children’s Museum this week. Taking a walk on the “Science” side of life has taught me a lot, given that I’m not a science-y type of person. The most important lesson I’ve learned so far is this: anyone can be a scientist, as I so often explain to our little scientists in the power science lab. At first those words felt a little bit foreign in my mouth. I felt like a hypocrite, especially when I think about how I’m majoring in journalism and a liberal arts honors program. I’m not passionate about science, and yet throughout these last three weeks it’s been inspiring to interact with hundreds of kids who, by the end of the experiment, are exclaiming “I want to be a scientist when I grow up!” On Wednesday, another one of my supervisors Cathy took me over to see the superhero show she puts on for our visitors in the auditorium. It’s a cute 15 minute show called “Power up!” which tea...
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MI FAMILIA

MI FAMILIA. As Sunday reaches its end, there's no longer workshops, reception tasks, tours, or any of the sort left. It surreal to not wake up with the sole purpose of going to the museum, a feeling I am going to miss. These last four weeks have opened my eyes to what surrounds me, taught me to seek more, to discover new assets in me, and has shown me to never conform to what I know; there's always room to grow. The team of MHAA has become my family and I can proudly say they are a part of the YAP family, which means that MHAA is part of of us, a part of you. I hope throughout the blogs, it has become clear how wonderful of a discovery this experience truly is, and it ended as great as it could ever be. During the week I researched Egyptian culture, gave tours to visitors, took the measures necessary to protect a painting (and I carried a giant bubble wrap through campus), and was in charge of handling and fixing the subtitles on an hour seminar, which would make the vid...
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Last Week at the National Zoo (Richard)

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I can't believe that the internship is already over! This has been such an awesome experience and I am really sad that it has to end. But this last week was a good note to leave off on. During the beginning of the week, I worked on the creating guides for families whose children want to participate in nature play. One of our goals here is to ensure that children grow up with an appreciation for nature and we try to do this by getting them to play outside. Nature play is any activity or game that involves using natural materials and plants, whether it be leaf rubbings, scavenger hunts, etc. So I worked on creating guides for families that would help them know what kind of activities they can complete with their children. I also prepared a lot for the facebook live broadcast that took place this week. It was on orangutans, and we did a craft where we created little pipe-cleaner orangutans that could hang on a pencil. We then ended the broadcast by playing a game that taught the a...
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Arte Américas - Week 4 (Last Week)

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I am sad to be leaving Arte Américas on the week that it re-opens, but I am glad to have contributed to the museum in its most critical weeks leading up to an exhibit opening. This week was very busy for the museum and was also pretty busy for me. I had the community outreach activity on Monday and I could not have asked for a better audience to read to. These kids were so well behaved and I had a lot of very good questions to answer, even though it was a small audience. On Thursday, the museum opened its doors after being closed for the month of July to reveal a new art exhibit. I helped to clear out the galleries of any trash or pieces that needed to be moved or thrown away. Although, most of my day was spent in the library. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been working on inventory for the museum’s collection of magazines. Pictured above is the finished product; after having them scattered on the floor and sorting through many piles, I have a great sense of accomplish...
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