Nancy Contreras-Alejandre's 2nd Post (Adler Planetarium- Chicago, IL)

At the Adler this past week I began research on Mars with a group of other teen interns, began planning for the Adler’s Community Bash, participated in a career exploration workshop, continued with the Adler Planetarium Historic Photograph Project, and was able to directly interact with the Far Horizon Interns working on the ROV Meteorite Hunt project with the first test of the sled model.

As a part of the beginning of the Mars research, the other teen interns and I were able to explore questions such as what Mars is made of, how it formed, how its surface has been affected by human exploration along with other impacts, and the history of man’s successes on Mars. Next we had the chance to present this information to a group of other interns and staff. This research is a part of the Adler’s overall project to construct a 3-D map of Mars for visitors’ interactions. Therefore, we next worked with one of the Adler’s astronomers who specializes in graphic design in order to learn how to construct 3-Dimensional images on software similar to Photoshop. Working with this portion of graphic design allowed me to understand how the arts and sciences can be paired in order to reach different audiences. I was also able to understand the work that museums go through in order to develop entertainment vital to their teaching such as the space shows held at the Adler. Next, the Adler community bash is an annual event held every summer and planned by teen interns, in order to allow the Chicago community to utilize science to connect and interact with one-another. This year, we decided to base the event’s theme on the mysteries of Area fifty-one, and decided to name the event Area Fifty-Fun.This planning has allowed me to view the different aspects that need to be considered while planning for an institution's events. This also showed me that contrary to the common person’s ideas, science is not always a serious or “dull” topic, and can be used to create connections. While continuing with the Historic Photograph Project, I was able to learn how to input metadata and efficiently manage large-scale scannings. In addition, I was able to sit-in on two meetings with the History of Science team, and learn about the careful planning that has to be placed into the budgeting and management for just one department in a museum. This introduced me to the discipline of technology and how to react to any issues, since software such as Minisis is very sensitive to any miniscule mistakes during input and organization. Finally, while helping to test the initial sled model, I was able to further learn about the frustrations during the design process, and the concerns that appear when a plan does not follow according to its original expectations in-spite of correct measurements.

This week has taught me the importance of the diversity in the learning, teaching and knowledge with various subjects and topics. I was also able to continue to learn that just like with the Washington Week group project, almost no project or plan can be completed without the teamwork of various teams and without a well-devised plan. I have also learned that there is always a way to fuse various interests into one specialty; therefore, one should not be afraid of showing interest in more than one subject. Consequently, I continued to reinforce the notion that it is ok to not know exactly what it is that one wants to devote their career to, as long as they have a plan to discover their interests.