October 23, 2015
Smithsonian Sleepovers: What REALLY Comes to Life
Have you ever spent the night at a museum, rolling out your sleeping bag under Phoenix the whale or next to the Star Spangled Banner? This summer, I was lucky enough to do that every weekend. As the Smithsonian Sleepovers intern, I had the opportunity to design and implement educational activities for a new Sleepover at the National Portrait Gallery as well as support and manage the existing programs at the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History. My supervisors pushed me with high levels of responsibility, but my rewards were the sleepovers themselves. They were truly magical experiences, as I got to watch children and families become fascinated and enriched with all of the information that the museums had to offer through the activities we had developed. I learned more than I had ever expected about object-based learning and arts administration, the balance between creativity and logistics, and my own abilities to lead a successful program.
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