Young Ambassadors 2017 Internship Blog

Hi Ambassadors, This week has been more than eventful, as I have been in meetings, served as a museum tour guide, and completed the Story Time event with my local library. On Monday, I was able to read “Drum Dream Girl” to sixteen kids and their parents at the Denver Public Library Corky Gonzales Branch. That day was my first time at that specific library, and I was happy to bring my nieces and nephew and encourage them to become familiar with checking out books. The Story Time itself went smoothly, although I unfortunately was not able to partner with an alumni to host the event. The children at the Story Time event were engaged and invested in the storyline, and they were excited to create their own drums. Included below are some of the pictures taken during the Story Time reading and the following drum activity. I’ve come to learn that on any given day at any given time, I may have to drop what I’m doing to attend a spontaneous meeting. One of those meetings I had this week w...

This week was very exciting! Everyday at the Science Center there are around four demonstration done by the Guest Experience Specialist (GEX) team/workers. I have seen a couple of these demos, but I have never helped GEX. This week I was able to observe/help/learn a couple demos. GEX encourages for some of the volunteers/interns to learn the demos. On Monday I observed the "Discover DNA" demo. I helped Audrey from GEX by assisting her in setting up the table.  Below is a picture of me observing Audrey extracting DNA from strawberries using isopropyl alcohol, dish soap, water, and salt.   On Tuesday I was able to observe/assist with two demos. The first demo was about hominids, which are "members of the family of humans". This demo was done by Matt from GEX, and I only observed. He had five fake skulls: chimpanzee, Australopithecus (Lucy), Homo erectus, Neanderthal, and Homo sapiens (us). This demo is a lot more complex  to understand (at least to me), ...

Hey guys, Last week was fashion week! I thought fashion week would be a bit more popular than the other programs we've hosted, but to my surprise it wasn't. Only about eighteen teens came, compared to our thirty kids last time. It's okay though because we had such amazing garments made this week. Most people say they're into fashion because they like to dress themselves up, that's why this week my boss has made it her mission to change that way of thought. She invited a woman from a company called Slow Factory. Her mission statement is to make garments through a slow production method in order to help the environment. Most of our clothing is made from polyester which is created by oil. That means it can never be fully destroyed, also most of the clothing we donate to Good Will ends up being dumped with the other huge piles of clothing in Africa, I believe. Cotton is also not the best alternative for polyester because it take a huge amount of water to make one shir...

“Excuse me miss, but my friends are eating the grapes that fell from the sky.” The time for session two has arrived. A new set of kids, with a new set of names I would not be able to learn fast enough. The program would now be recycled, with a few improvements and a switch in the order projects would be assigned. Curator Kids Club was on it’s way to a session two filled with success. After morning introductions, the first challenge had begun. Each table was handed a pack of 100 flashcards and instructed to build a two feet high tower that would withstand the weight of a modeled rocket. Without any guidance many of the groups focused on creating a stable base, while others began building with no plan. There was success and there was failure. Each group was able to learn from each other’s structures, what seemed to work best and what did not - knowledge that would later be beneficial when building their bridges. Projects were assigned with little guidance, but no worries YouTub...

Michael hands to yourself! Guys, get in a straight line! Safety first, remember to wear your gloves and goggles. You’re not wearing gloves, where are your gloves? Someone get the frisbee, okay, I’ll get the frisbee. Chaka! Claudia! Someone? Curator Kids Club was my permanent stop. Within this program kids from the 6th to 8th grade are able to explore this year's theme, Engineering. For the duration of three weeks, those selected will face challenges and projects that incorporate the key theme Engineering. With the assistance of Rosemary (program coordinator), Chaka (teacher), Elanine (teacher), Cindy (teacher’s aide), Claudia (teacher’s aide), Anthony (volunteer), and Adriana (the best volunteer in the world) and the use of tools and materials provided, they will build four key projects - a bridge, a mechanical claw, a remote control car, and the final task of constructing an arcade game to present in the California Science Center. Not forgetting to mention, they will face sma...

My last week at MIM is bittersweet. I feel like it's only been a few days instead of four weeks! This week I finalized the translation of chaperone guides and had it checked over with Niki, Cristina, and Ileana. It's awesome that the education department has decided to make this small but impactful part of field trips available in Spanish; I'm sure it'll be greatly appreciated throughout the year by schools. I worked on a project along with Niki, for a STEM segment MIM wants to add to the field trip portions. The project consists of rope, hot glue, key chains, and musical instrument tags. It will be used to show the exact length of that instrument, for example the length of a trombone when it is completely uncoiled. Two prototypes were made and they'll choose between which works best for children.  I also learned how to laminate during this project and how to prepare receipts to be sent to finance. After receiving and answering many emails regarding the Back to Scho...

¡Hola a Todos! The fourth week of my internship with Explora was busy, but very fun. I had the opportunity to get to know to the staff and volunteers better. I continued to give group tours and doing prep. I also helped in the summer camp called “Chemistry in the Kitchen”. Although I was always busy with something, I felt comfortable in the working environment that Explora offers. The tour groups, as usual, went great. It’s amazing how I’m still learning from all the museum floor areas and exhibits. Children are the teachers at Explora, they are the ones that “think outside box’. Every time I asked them what they were doing, they responded with something that I would’ve never imagined could be done at that exhibit. The number one rule at Explora is to “touch and experiment everything”. “Chemistry in the Kitchen” was for children from grades 2-3. Here they learned about the different ingredients that make dough raise, the types of fats for cooking, and how to distinguish heal...