Young Ambassadors 2022 Internship Blog

 Dear Diary, 7/25/2022 - 7/26/2022: One of the tasks I focused on this week was data compilation. I was happy to be able to put my AP Statistics knowledge to use as I sorted through Docent responses regarding a variety of different trainings. It was cool seeing the similar thoughts, patterns, and solutions that Docents have at LACMA!  07/27/2022 - 07/28/2022: This week, I also researched LACMA's upcoming exhibition, Afro-Atlantic Histories. Sound familiar? Yup, it's the same exhibit that we saw on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.! Afro-Atlantic Histories will be on view at LACMA in December. I researched the past venues that hosted Afro-Atlantic Histories and the programming that each museum enacted to accompany the exhibit. By doing this, LACMA can create new, fresh activities for the Los Angeles community to enjoy.   07/30/2022: Today, I attended the closing celebration of the Family Album exhibit at MacArthur park. LACMA hosted workshops with...

 Dear Diary,  7/20/2022 - 7/22/2022: This week, I ventured out of the high rise office building on Wilshire Boulevard to BCAM 3 of the Los Angeles Museum of Art. Who would've thought that working in a museum consisted primarily of paperwork? This week, I appreciated going back into the museum--even if there was an assignment attached to it. The assignment--designing tours for the upcoming school year--made me feel like a curator; my supervisor, Gabriela, and I spent hours in the museum, observing and interpreting pieces of art that had the potential of being included in the school tour. We picked pieces of art that demonstrated the "Big Idea" of that age group's tour. As a high schooler, I was on the visiting side of LACMA's touring program. As an Education and Public Programs intern, I stand on the professional side, thinking about how different age groups process the art we show them on tours. Being able to experience school tours as a visitor and intern has bee...

  Week #4 - Internship Journal Blog Museum of History, Anthropology and Art of the University of Puerto Rico by Rodolfo Enrique López-Gutiérrez/YAP 2022 This week was the most eventful week of my internship at the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras campus. It was the week of orientations for the freshman students. New students would receive an orientation through campus, then they would visit the main building where there were several information booths with staff members to help and orientate students about all the locations and resources of information. The Museum had a booth at the activity. About an hour before the activity started, we brought brochures, the Taíno tattoos stamps, books based on the museum’s collections, books about Puerto Rican artists, an iPad to present a slideshow of its programs and services, and photos of a miniature 3D version of  “El Velorio”. We participated for three days; some days it was a bit slow, other days there were too many students to ...

 It's week 2 and the last week!  Admittedly, as I felt - and as the staff confirmed - this second week was more a jumble of everything that needed to be done, less 'structured' in a sense. But this was all fine and well, as it really did represent the state of the museum after COVID, as everyone and everything was operating with a 'skeleton crew,' having limited positions due not only to financial restraints but also COVID concerns for the little kids. Everyone, therefore, had to wear multiple hats, and I was no exception. Before all of that though, life did throw itself in my face and show that no one is immune from random inconveniences. Returning from Yosemite on a weekend trip, we timed the return of our car perfectly, as we spent all day in Yosemite and returned to SFO airport at around 10PM, which was also our car rental return time. My friend, who lives in Thailand, would also be perfectly on time to catch her 1AM flight back, so everything was perfect. We re...

 Howdy y'all!  The internships are normally conducted for a month in July, but due to family reasons I did my internship for 2 weeks in August at the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose in San Jose, California.  I arrived in California on August 2 after a long, miserable night early morning from Chicago, heading straight to my place I was staying, ready for the next morning - starting with a 1.5 hour commute by the San Jose VTA Light Rail to the Children's Museum. Arriving at the museum was no problem, as the museum has its own light rail stop, not to mention being a giant purple building. You just can't miss it.  The problem, however, is that the front entrance is decently hidden - so immediately after I arrived, I walked all the way around the entire building, confused and awkwardly searching for the front door - until I conceded defeat and messaged Evelyn, my internship supervisor, who said she would find me, as she was just arriving too. After meeting up and ...

  Hello fellow YAP interns, I still can’t believe these four weeks have gone by so fast. I feel so grateful to have been given this opportunity and can’t believe how far I’ve come. At the beginning of this internship, I had no idea what advocacy, representation, cultural pride, authenticity, and growth truly meant. After having completed Washington Week and now my four-week internship, I now know what they mean and the impact they have when they are lived out in your daily life. I have grown so much and have a better grasp of what it means to be in the workplace. It has been a great pleasure working with the Boniuk Center at Holocaust Museum Houston, as well as collaborating with the different departments of the museum to contribute to their Youth Initiative. I will forever be a museum advocate as I grew up going to museums with my family. Not only have I learned a lot about history, science, and art, but I now know the importance of who’s story it is, how it’s being told, and who ...

Weeks 3 + 4 +5  combo incoming... Preface for the combo post. Weeks 3 and 5 were my two day weeks. Week 3 was short week. Most of the NMAL staff I was working with were out on vacation and I ended up working from home up until Thursday. During my at-home working time I had a couple tasks. Along with continuing with idea development for my project, I compiled 200ish pages of documents from NMAL's Latinas Talk Latinas online resource in preparation for translation to Spanish. Thursday was my community outreach reading day. Departing from Virginia around 10:15, I arrived just before eleven at a community center in Maryland connected to their Takoma Park library. With awesome support from librarian Veronica, Carmen and I teamed up to read and lead activities for two batches of kids. Our first group was ages 3-5 (although a 2 year old or two managed to sneak in as well) and our second group was ages 6-12. We had similar success (or on occasion lack thereof) with reading between the two ...

Time has really flown by. I still cannot believe this last week is already over. Now it is time to reflect on it all as a whole and begin the tedious process of packing and getting everything ready for moving off to college. The lessons, skills, and work ethic I learned throughout the duration of my internship, accompanied with the fun times I had, made it an unforgettable experience. I really am going to miss my coworkers, my office, and the tasks they made me do. I am also going to miss all of the fun events the staff would put on. Anyways, my last week was just as busy as the previous ones, with the approaching opening days for two new exhibits at the museum. These two new exhibits are named Pasos Urbanos, and Chicano Power. I spent most of this week either working in exhibit prep, or working with the summer camp hosted at EPMH.  The two pictures above depict the brand new Pasos Urbanos exhibit before it opens to the public! All of the pictures are lined up and ready to be mount...

 I cannot believe I am at the end of my internship!  I have had a wonderful time throughout these past 4 weeks, I have learned and embraced so much.  Last week was our final summer camp before the start of school. We had local high school students come in and work on a disability-friendly exhibit. The target audience was those who are visually impaired, as the museum collaborated with a local 3D printing lab to duplicate some artifacts so that everyone could touch them without jeopardizing their preservation. The campers were able to explore printing software and how to conduct object scans. They were also educated on accessibility and inclusivity, and many were enlightened to learn about ableism and how they can be more conscious. I was able to know many of them through conversation and by helping them with their tasks.   Students present their 3D avatar and learn how to use design software Students then began to put their exhibit together. They did everything ...