Open Forum

Hi All, 

I was hoping to get some feedback from any of you about whether your museum participates in Bring Your Child To Work Day. If you do, how do you manage activities and staff for that? I would love to hear about any activities or administrative policies you have on the subject. 

Jessica Casinelli

Sr. Director of Membership and Campaign Strategies

Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science

Hi, Jessica - I know this won't work for everyone, but... a thousand years ago when I was the director of a children's museum (a category that proved not for me) I brought the c. 13-year-old daughter of my best friend.  Her kids were like mine, though I had none of my own.

We had an "animal room" and an active, licensed, wild animal re-hab program and some of our "exhibits" were abandoned by their "owners."  She spent the entire DAY sitting on the floor in that room watching the animals, especially a boa.  She also saw a poster for the Savannah River Turtle project we had posted.  That year, she was too young to apply.  But she did the next year and ended up doing her undergraduate work in Georgia.  Later, she did an internship protecting turtle hatchlings on their way to the sea on Nieves.

That girl, now a woman, has a PhD in biology, did post-doc work in entomology, and teaches at a special high school serving low-income, highly talented teenagers!

While, obviously I can claim no credit, I do believe I had some small influence that day.

So, if we want to support the industry and recruit people to replace us as we age (I am now retired), I suggest that even observing a day in the life of the backrooms of a museum, we support this worthy concept.

Vivian

Thank you, Vivian. Yup, you never know what will catch whom. And that was a biiig catch.

Meryl Rubin, PhD in [membrane] biochemistry, whose last job before retiring was teaching anyone who wanted to learn about plants...whatever I could offer.