History Museum Week 2, MOST UNEXPECTED, BUT ALSO MOST EXCELLENT Part 3, (Friday, 4/5)

Friday:

Alrighty, this will be a shorter post, since Friday was a bit more simple than some of my other days, where I was running around a lot more. I will also post some photos from throughout the week, down below. And then on Sunday, I will post my plan for the upcoming week and my thoughts on the experience so far. I feel like this posting schedule is a lot better than the big chunk ones. I worked from 9:00-4:00 and the first thing I did was help set up for the kids’ storytime and then just worked in the clubhouse until noon. I love working in the clubhouse, the kids are so cute and I just get to basically walk around, chat, and hand out stickers, that’s like the perfect job! The new theme for this week is the environment, nature, and the solar system because of the upcoming eclipse, so Maggie read some books about Ellen Ochoa, the sun, and the entire universe. The sun book was pretty funny, the sun just bragged about how great he was, how planets were soooo attracted to him, and how mysterious he was. I told Emily, “Wow! He is just like Edward Cullen from “Twilight”,” and yes, she did laugh! After that, the kids made a space helmet coloring craft (I don’t have any pictures because my phone was dead, rip, literally.) Then I just walked around the clubhouse and picked stuff up, sadly we aren’t putting stickers out because some naughty kids stuck them to the floor! There was this really cute little girl who crawled into one of these big cushion chairs we have that are shaped like a flower and she would hide her face in her hair and then peek out and I would wave and she would smile. It was really cute, I think she was only about 1 or 2 years old. Then she was sitting by the book shelf, so I came and sat down next to her and read a couple books to her. Her name was Adele and she was such a sweetie, she was quiet because I think she was shy, but you could tell she was really smart and aware of what she was doing and me as a reader. Her mom is French and has a very strong accent, and worked as a military doctor in the intensive care unit in France, where she met her American husband, they lived there for a while and both girls were born there, then they came to St. Louis so he could get his PhD at WashU. So, it’s pretty cool to see the international connections at the museum as well as the domestic and hometown ones and just around the St. Louis area as well. I really love working in the clubhouse because it’s just fun! It would be practically impossible to not smile (I am sure stone cold stoic Dobby could manage the epic feat, though)! It’s also really cool to see the kids focused, engaged, and clearly learning. Today, I heard a little voice in the corner during story time and this little girl, maybe 3 or 4, was counting these things on the wall, then saying their color, and then saying if they were big or small. The museum’s approach to early childhood education is very similar to Montessori values and TFS, which is just really cool. I think it is just so special to witness a child learn, be curious, and want to find out why things are the way they are, and these programs that the museum offers are a great stepping stone into it. It’s just beautiful to be apart of this really intimate thing of a child discovering the world for the first time and it just makes me want to be a mom so bad! But do not worry that is not happening until I am at least 25, have a husband, steady job, and out of graduate school. I could definitely see myself going into early childhood education or something in the educational world in a museum for sure, though.

At 1:00, I met Erin Ray, who is the Visitor Experience Manager (who I sort of already met, but didn’t talk to at length, yet) to cover the responsibilities of working the front desk. She just went over the responsibilities and different things to do in case of an emergency, injury, or anything else. After that, I worked with Jenny at one of the desks for 1 hour. She is really sweet and we also just walked through a few galleries to maker sure there wasn’t any trash in them. Then from 3:00-4:00 I worked the front desk with Aslyn. It wasn’t too busy so we just chatted and she told me about an exhibit she’s curating on women in the World’s Fair and it sounded really cool. I also met another girl, (I forgot her name, but she has short blonde hair and it maybe started with an “L” or a “J”) who was really sweet. I also talked with Janelle (I think that was her name, I don’t know I was so excited I only slept like 5 hours last night and it shows) who works the desks and she actually went to Chesterfield Day School with the Fulton kids and was friends with Elizabeth! She said she grew up like a few houses over from them, what a coincidence! After that, I was done working, but I introduced myself to Jason who also works the front desk and went to the gift shop to buy some stickers and a pin for my lanyard and chatted with Jonathon.

Also, can’t remember if I mentioned this in the last post, but I keep running into people I have met before on school trips. I have seen Jason from the Historical Society twice, but haven’t gotten the chance to say hi. There was also this Inidian woman who looked really familiar, like she may have been a friend of my aunt’s or a parent at TFS. And then last night, I saw this one lady, and I gave her a flyer, and I said, “Do I know you? You look so familiar!” and she goes, “Hmmm, I don’t know, but I feel like you look familiar, too. Maybe we just have those kinds of faces!” And as she walked off it hit me like a wrecking ball (Miley Cyrus reference!) it was a lady who curated an exhibited on Medieaval art at the CAM and we met her last year on a field trip for Global Middle Ages with Mrs. Bryan. I think her name was Hannah, maybe? She has shortish blonde hair, blue eyes, medium, height, young, and pretty thin. It’s just so funny to me that I am running into all these people and also really cool!

And then the other day, I didn’t get to introduce myself, but I said hi and welcomed Jody (not Foster) Sowell who is the president and CEO of the museum. He is really nice and appears in their TV commercials! Now, that I have that fully written, I feel like I did mention that, previously? Who knows! It’s been really great and I am looking forward to another week here and meeting some more new people. I was gonna upload pictures, but I am too lazy, so I will put some in on Sunday, maybe, don’t hold me to it!

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