This was my first official week at the Ohio History Connection as a School & Teacher Support Intern, and what a week it was! Touring the Ohio History Center (OHC) seemed like a scene out of a movie, with the giant skeletons, diagrams, and countless artifacts available to explore at every turn. The Ohio Village, located adjacent to the center, also explored a new world of culture and exploration of Ohio’s past. While OHC seems very tame and unsuspecting on the outside, the inside is brimming with information and the best volunteers and staff to go along with it.

My first week was relatively tame, with the first few days centered around acquainting myself with the environment and our teams. The School & Teacher Support Team is a group of educational experts who take on multiple responsibilities in order to produce success in their programming. This summer is more of a “rest period” between the school year where they review, revise, and introduce new programs within Ohio and nationwide. I also got the pleasure of meeting a plethora of team members from almost every department. During this initial meeting, I realized how deeply interconnected the departments were. For example, School & Teacher Support could collaborate with the Outreach department on different programs that are concentrating on different audiences.

One of my main roles during the summer is being a facilitator for the “Museum in a Box” program. The discussions are centered on two different subjects, Family & Commuter Life and the Underground Railroad; the former is focused on children K-4 while the latter is directed towards 4-8th Grade. I got to facilitate some programs this week featuring both boxes, with my manager Carla Mello accompanying me in the morning and independently during the afternoon. Conversing with children on this level was eye-opening, even when you believe that you can understand them the “easiest”. Every child approached the boxes materials with a different perspective, sometimes so advanced in their thinking that it shocked me. Not to mention the kids who centered all their answers on food, we connected in more examples than one! I look forward to getting myself more acquainted with the materials in order to create more diverse activities to do with the children. These conversations not only expand their ideas about the world around them, but also help me understand how important their differences are in creating their outlook.