First Week at the Adler Planetarium

  I was both thrilled and nervous to start my internship at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. I had little to no interaction with the planetarium before I visited to speak to my advisers. I knew I would get a range of experiences and people to work with but I didn't know what to expect. I was very excited after Washington Week and didn't realize how much the week prepared me for what would come.

 I can say that after my first week, I am so happy and appreciative of the opportunity I am getting at the Adler. I have learned so much in this week and know I will learn so much more. I have the great experience of being able to experience different things on different days of the week.

On Monday I was able to spend the day with other teen interns at the Adler. Much like Washington Week, we met and spoke to professionals. The person that stood out most to me was a cynical psychologist. I have often thought of psychology and took the opportunity to ask her questions. Since Washington Week, I have been thinking about what I would most like to major in or have a career in. I remember thinking of double majoring in psychology and political science but not being sure. Through talking to this cynical psychologist, she reinforced the idea and possibility of me double majoring. This was an inspiring and interesting moment for me as it was something I wrote on my paper as a note before she then asked me if I knew I could double major. This moment combined with Washington Week made me feel as if something greater was leading me in the direction I was meant to have.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays I work in the collections department. While this might sound boring, I can assure you it is not at all. My very second day at the Adler, I was touching meteorites from Mexico (with gloves of course) ! I was tasked with creating mounts for these meteorites to better store them. I created these through  ethafoam, blue board, a special cloth that protects artifacts and a glue gun. This was a surreal experiment for me as I realized I was actually touching meteorites. I was also able to realize the importance of a collections department that overseas the objects that are both displayed and not displayed. I thought it was fascinating to see the behind the scenes of a planetarium.  I also got to sit in on some meetings. One was for a future concept being developed. It is a Blog (that's right a blog) for the Adler. Another meeting was to create an activity through the educational objects to show in a few weeks.

On Thursday I worked in the theater department! I specifically worked on a project that surveyed guested to see what they thought about the shows they liked. I was able to survey people and to input the data. It was very interesting and exiting for me to see how theater and statistics combined for this project. I was also able to watch two shows myself and learned more about space! One of my favorites spoke of the James Web that was explained to us during Washington Week. To the right is a photo of me passing out a survey.  Another interesting part of my day Thursday was what is known as the clock winding. This took place at two o'clock and is when staff in the collections department take objects from the education collection and explain them in detail while allowing other staff to touch the objects and learn about them. Below is a video of the clock winding moment.



Friday was a special day as I was able to visit the Art Institute of Chicago with collections department staff to try an activity. The activity is called JourneyMaker and allows visitors to create a path through themes that shows visitors which artworks or objects to visit based on the theme they pick. We went to try this activity out to see how we can potentially implement something similar at the Adler. This was interesting to me because it was the beginning of a future project that may one day be part of the Adler. It also showed me how museums work together. To the right is a photo is me doing the activity. Below is a  photos of an artwork. 

 Overall I am very excited to continue my internship at the Adler. I am also very proud as a Chicagoan to participate in the great institutions in my own city! Thank you for reading!