Week 3: Time flies!
Two on-site visits and community outreach :)
On-Site: 07/18/22 & 07/20/22
07/18/2022 :
It was finally the day I was going to shadow my fellow intern as they used the immigration cart around the museum. First, I did my regular commute: bus, metro, and walk to the museum. Although I did try a cafe nearby the Federal Triangle Metro Stations. Had a breakfast sandwich, which was terrific. Met with Magdalena and Gonzalo by the lowrider around 11:30, we went up to Magdalena's office as she explains that it'll be her last day with me as she was going on a trip. We decided to do some title-testing for the lowrider exhibit for about 30 minutes or so, Gonzalo and I. Then we wrap up the data we collected and head over to the immigration cart and set up near Presente! As Gonzalo tells me more about the bracero program and its importance in the Mexican-American immigration story, we exchange glances and smiles with museum guests. Due to it being a Monday, we didn't expect much since the day of the week did impact how many visitors the museum had. Despite the low number of visitors, we had this young adult /adolescent guy, probably around my age, come up to the cart with such a genuine interest in everything. He continuously asked questions and let us know that he felt what we were doing was important. Hearing and seeing someone my age take value in museum education and just informal education overall makes it more hopeful that people will realize that education can be fun and rewarding rather than tedious.
Title-testing and using the cart sum the day up and then it was time to head home.
07/20/22: On Our Own...
This was my first day without Magdalena. Gonzalo and I were left with conducting more title-testing for the lowrider exhibit and using the cart to educate museum guests. We spent time observing museum guests on the first and second floors. Later on, we began to survey visitors from floors 1 to 3. We got lunch and headed our separate ways after hours of walking around and meeting visitors from all over the country and the world.
Community Outreach: 07/21/22
The day finally came, it was my turn to do the community outreach. Assigned to Takoma Park Maryland State Library. My day started a bit earlier, I had to get ready and make sure I looked my best in my NMAL polo and black jeans. Started my commute around 9am to the Silver Spring area, arriving about 20-30 minutes before my scheduled time to set up and become familiar with my library representative, Veronica Rivera-Negron. Who by the way, is the sweetest and so outstandingly passionate about informal education, and working with kids seems natural to her. I arrive and am greeted by Veronica and see that the children are doing an activity, I set up my table with some time to pass. I had brought stickers and bookmarks for the children. Fransico (other YAP' 22) and I agreed on helping each other out with both our sessions, so as I wait on his arrival, I set up the ribbon going with the bookmarks. Fransico arrives and we finish up the bookmarks and we discuss our plan of action together. Fransico and I recognized our age groups, our community outreach was paired with a summer program, and came to the realization that the Nuestra Historia book was a bit too advanced for 3 to 5-year-olds. He had brought two picture books with him! Both bilingual, one a familial-based story and the other telling the life of Cesar Chavez. My session starts with the children, I try to read about Lin Manuel-Miranda to the children, with not much response so I switch over to "My Papi Rides a Motorcycle" which gained more traction with the colorful pictures and easier language. Throughout the reading, I make sure to ask the children questions to keep them engaged and listening. Afterward, we move on to the portrait activity, I ask the children to draw a figure in their lives or someone they have heard of that inspires them. The kids happily took to crayons and began to socialize over the colors and paper. One drew her mother, another drew a peer that sat next to them, and one drew their sister. Then it was sticker and bookmark time for the kids, as they were as well-behaved as 3-5-year-olds could be. That was the wrap of my session. Fransico and I got lunch and around 1:30it was time to head back to the community center and start with the 6 to 12 age group. Fransico read the story of Cesar Chavez and to our surprise, many of the children knew of him and some were familiar with Dolores Huerta, which lit up both our faces finding out. Although I did just help around, it was amazing seeing all the children be fascinated with the story and then go on to draw Cesar Chavez as a person that inspired them. What was a big takeaway from this event was to pay more attention to how children learn, and what works best for them to absorb information. "Children are like sponges they just absorb information constantly..."
Week 4: The end... for now.
I went on-site only once this week. It was on Thursday, July 28th, 2022. Made my designated commute one last time, not that I would never ride the metro again, just unlikely during peak hours. I arrived and met with the other intern. We speak about our experiences at the museum this summer and how all the staff members have been amazing to meet and hear from in person. There's a chance we spoke about how the elevators are weirdly placed but that's beside the point. We decided to use the cart first since it was still pretty early in the day and we wanted to wait for more people so that the title-testing could have a bigger audience to survey from. We take our usual spot outside Presente! and display the story of some in our Latinx community as people walk by and learn with wandering eyes. We conduct our title-testing, one survey was about 50% in french but translated for me. We made passing friends with each questioning and learned about the different types of people who visit the museum and why as well. As each day, our time came to an end, with that so did my internship. I say farewell and walk to Federal Triangle to complete the day's commute.
Tribute: Magdalena & Gonzalo
Thank you for making this experience so full of smiles and knowledge. I will not forget this experience or either of you. This month showed me different ways of thinking, careers I didn't think were achievable, and history that needs to be shared. For all that I am grateful. I couldn't be prouder to say that YAP definitely made a mark on me and on my life moving forward.
Carmen, out.
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