Children's Discovery Museum: Week 3
This week was my third week working with the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose and has so far been the most engaging week I've had here at the museum. As a part of the museum's goal to encourage lifelong learning, it hosts a weeklong summer camp across the span of 6 weeks throughout summer called S.O.S (Summer Of Service).
S.O.S has 5 different teams that help out the community in a unique way. The teams are Red, Orange, Green, Purple, and Striped, each one has 2 leaders and an intern. Throughout this week I helped out as a second intern for four of these five teams (all except red). Orange is responsible for childhood development, Green for nature outreach, Striped for leadership, Purple for media, and Red is a combination of the four. Most of the campers during the week were going into seventh or eighth grade, though some on striped team were going into 9th or 10th grade.
Being a leader in this S.O.S program through the museum has been my favorite aspect of museum work so far. The first day I worked with the Orange team planning a trip to a park with activities for younger kids. The second day included hard work with the Green team where we pulled weeds and helped cleaned up Ulistac, a natural area near San Jose. The third day I spent with Striped team, where I watched them conduct a game they created on their own and then went out to RAFT (Recource Area For Teaching) and helped organize one of their warehouses. Thursday, the fourth day, was with the Purple team, who had been recording interviews with the other teams and needed to be editing their footage. Finally came Friday, the day to celebrate all the hard work done by these kids. That day I went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and helped supervise a day trip for the campers.
What I just mentioned was what I knew before going into this week. I knew who I'd be working with, what I'd be doing, and where I'd be going. However, I did not know what I'd learn from my experience. Working and talking with the kids was so indescribable. For one, seeing some become passionate about the the work they were doing and working above and beyond what was asked of them was enlightening. Some showed others to be confident in themselves by embracing all kinds of style, sexualities, and personalities. There was so much I noticed about these campers, but what really stuck out to me was the way the museum encouraged every kid to feel comfortable. Even though each day was filled with work for these campers, every day I saw them having fun in what they did. Each group worked as a team to solve riddles thrown at them and gerw quick friendships.
Unfortunately, this was the only week I work with S.O.S, however, in the short time I was there I could see why this program really did help the community around the museum. During Washington Week, I realized how important it was to reach out to different communities, just as the Smithsonian reached out to the Latino Community, but watching this museum reach out to the pre-teen community, one I feel is often overlooked, helped me to realize that reaching out can be done by anyone, for anyone.
S.O.S has 5 different teams that help out the community in a unique way. The teams are Red, Orange, Green, Purple, and Striped, each one has 2 leaders and an intern. Throughout this week I helped out as a second intern for four of these five teams (all except red). Orange is responsible for childhood development, Green for nature outreach, Striped for leadership, Purple for media, and Red is a combination of the four. Most of the campers during the week were going into seventh or eighth grade, though some on striped team were going into 9th or 10th grade.
Being a leader in this S.O.S program through the museum has been my favorite aspect of museum work so far. The first day I worked with the Orange team planning a trip to a park with activities for younger kids. The second day included hard work with the Green team where we pulled weeds and helped cleaned up Ulistac, a natural area near San Jose. The third day I spent with Striped team, where I watched them conduct a game they created on their own and then went out to RAFT (Recource Area For Teaching) and helped organize one of their warehouses. Thursday, the fourth day, was with the Purple team, who had been recording interviews with the other teams and needed to be editing their footage. Finally came Friday, the day to celebrate all the hard work done by these kids. That day I went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and helped supervise a day trip for the campers.
What I just mentioned was what I knew before going into this week. I knew who I'd be working with, what I'd be doing, and where I'd be going. However, I did not know what I'd learn from my experience. Working and talking with the kids was so indescribable. For one, seeing some become passionate about the the work they were doing and working above and beyond what was asked of them was enlightening. Some showed others to be confident in themselves by embracing all kinds of style, sexualities, and personalities. There was so much I noticed about these campers, but what really stuck out to me was the way the museum encouraged every kid to feel comfortable. Even though each day was filled with work for these campers, every day I saw them having fun in what they did. Each group worked as a team to solve riddles thrown at them and gerw quick friendships.
Unfortunately, this was the only week I work with S.O.S, however, in the short time I was there I could see why this program really did help the community around the museum. During Washington Week, I realized how important it was to reach out to different communities, just as the Smithsonian reached out to the Latino Community, but watching this museum reach out to the pre-teen community, one I feel is often overlooked, helped me to realize that reaching out can be done by anyone, for anyone.
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| Working at Ulistac on Tuesday with the Green Team. |
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| The Striped Team working together in a team building activity trying to flip the tarp without touching the ground. |
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| The Striped Team and I after spending 2.5 hours at a RAFT warehouse organizing materials. |
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| The Purple Team recording their final interviews before editing the footage to promote S.O.S. |
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