Witte Museum Week 1 - Ellen Foreman

 


Week 1: Stepping into History



Cool views, hot weather

~July 6th, 2023~

On my first day at the Witte Museum, at the offices of the Public Programs Department, I met with Ms. Pamela Riles, who guided me through the volunteer onboarding process. While we dived into the specifics of camp policies and safety procedures, we also discussed the museum’s dedication to nature, science, and culture, and how we strive to uphold that mission statement throughout all of our programming and exhibits. Next, I met with my supervisor, Ms. Lessli Ruiz, the director of the Public Programs Department, who explained how I would be involved with assisting with camps for the following weeks, and gave me a brief tour of the museum, indicating the facilities that would be spending most of our time in. (I was also handed a Witte camp t-shirt and a keycard, which made me feel much more professional!) Afterwards, I spent some time familiarizing myself with the layout of the museum, including exhibits such as the McLean Family Texas Wild Gallery and the Antarctic Dinosaurs exhibits. I appreciated just how much of the museum was designed to be entertaining for young children – through a combination of hands-on labs and interactive screens, the exhibits truly came to life. Oftentimes, museums can feel like static spaces because we can only interact with artifacts and paintings with our eyes, but by fleshing out additional ways to explore Texas history the Witte Museum transformed into a dynamic playground for curious explorers.


Inside the Witte Museum offices

~July 7th, 2023~

Along with other interns and staff from the Public Programs Department, I practiced giving orientations to school groups at the Feik Family Orientation Pavilion, where the Acequia Madre or Menchaca Map is located. The Witte Museum is nestled beside the San Antonio River and located right where the Ojo de Agua spring originates, and you can even spot the same trees that are on the map in the garden! The map also depicts a long acequia (a ditch developed by the Spanish that diverts water from one place to another) that travels from Ojo de Agua all the ways towards the Mission de San Antonio de Valero, also known as the Alamo. In addition to teaching children about the Witte Museum’s vibrant history, we also emphasize our mission and the rules that they should follow in order to make the most out of their camp day.


             

       Fossil believed to be the tallest T-rex!        Tortoise at lunchtime - he loves blueberries!

~July 10th, 2023~

My first day of camp started with supervising the Dino Scouts and Science Sampler camps as campers were dropped off to play with the equipment at the Zachry Family Acequia Garden. For the morning session of activities, I was assigned to stay with the science camp, who were starting the week off by exploring chemistry. In addition to visiting the Tyrannosaurs exhibit and playing polymer tag, they explored the composition of molecules by building models out of gummies and toothpicks, which were superglued to trays so that they could easily take them home. Although they started off by building relatively simple molecules such as water, they quickly progressed to tackling molecules such as glucose and glycerin. After lunch, they painted with rock candy and learned about more interesting elements through periodic table bingo.


Projects of the week

Today was also my birthday! Even though I didn't get to celebrate at home, I still had a lot of fun working alongside the campers and the team :)


~July 11th, 2023~

Although I started the day by setting up registration equipment at the Feik Family Pavilion and joining the science camp on their biology day, I was sent to the HEB Body Adventure building for training with Daemon, the Health and Wellness Education Manager, with another Public Programs team member. Not only did we learn how to refill stations printing out interactive tickets and how to use the iPad to restart the machinery’s computers, but we also reviewed what to do if we encountered broken or unresponsive equipment. Each day we are assigned to assist with HEBBA upkeep, we must keep a log of any issues we identify on the iPad and email the log to admin at the end of the day. After supervising the science camp during their lunch hour and spending even more time in the Tyrannosaur exhibit during aftercare hours with some of the campers (there's an interactive tyrannosaur family tree game in this exhibit that they love to play over and over again, and our current record when we're working together is 3 minutes and 15 seconds!), I prepped some paper and stickers for another camp. Even though it felt like we constantly needed to be walking from one building to another, I felt like we were always doing our best to keep the campers entertained.



View from the third floor of HEBBA


Tyrannosaur Family Tree game

~Reflection~

    Despite missing the stimulation of working alongside my peers at Washington Week, I still felt like all of the leadership training we received made me much more confident than I otherwise would have been. After all, this is my first time having an in-person job, and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to connect with my mentors right away. However, the team has been incredibly welcoming and compassionate, and I feel inspired to keep working to uphold the mission of our museum each day.

 

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