My third week has been by far the most interesting so far! I got the opportunity to experience and learn so many new things.
On Monday, I continued my research for my project at home. I got off to a slow start creating the outlines for the Learning Lab, and so I finished my research for Emma Tenayuca and Josephine Ledesma and began working on the Learning Lab for the balsa boat. Because we did the balsa boat activity during Washington Week, I had more background information and a clearer idea of what the Learning Lab should look like. My research for the balsa boats continued on Tuesday, and looking through the Smithsonian collections was very insightful. I learned so much about the balseros, Operation Pedro Pan, and the Mariel boatlift. Before, I had only ever heard vaguely about this chapter of Cuban history, but taking a deeper dive was very impactful.
It is also fun to poke around all the items and resources that the Smithsonian has in their collection across all the museums, and I enjoy stitching together different items to tell one broader story. It provides a fascinating window into the world of museum collecting and curating, and it has opened my perspective of what can and does belong in a museum. If anyone is curious, looking through the Smithsonian collection is public. Here is the link if anyone wants to explore!
Wednesday, I spent the day at the Learning Lounge in NMAL. The day began as usual, with a couple of families and educators wandering into the Learning Lounge. We played a couple games of Lotería and dominoes with visitors, which is always fun. We got visitors from California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and China! I always have a wonderful time at the Learning Lounge because not only is it a nice way to meet new people, but it gives me an excuse to play and color. Wednesday afternoon, we got a group of CHCI kids visiting D.C. and taking a tour of the Molina Family Gallery.
I shadowed Adrián as he gave them a tour, and it was refreshing to hear about the objects in the gallery once again. Since I spend most of my time in the Learning Lounge, it was a welcome change to be in the exhibit and take a closer look at all the interesting stories we have on display. It was also nice to be on the other side of the tour experience and witness another group of young Latino leaders feel inspired by the exhibit. One of the girls even came up to me to ask me more questions about YAP, and I was more than happy to answer her questions and give her a card with all the information. We might be seeing her next year! Below is the Pollera Panameña, which I didn’t notice until this tour.
On Thursday, I was in the Molina Family Gallery once again. Instead of being in the Learning Lounge, however, I was out on the porch. We had six new prototypes for the ¡Puro Ritmo! (all about salsa music) exhibit in 2026, and people walking by had the opportunity to test them out and give us feedback. Among the different prototypes are an interactive map that showcase songs from different parts of the world with clave, a mini-orchestra stage that have instruments that are played in different Latino genres, and a closer look at the grooves in a vinyl record. Many people came over and tested out the prototypes we had, and we gathered wonderful data.
What I noted from the data is that many people like to see a visual element to interactive aspects of the museum. They told us that they would like to see pictures and/or videos of bands, countries, and the performances to learn more. I am also more excited because everybody was very open to the prototypes and the new exhibit. People are very excited to learn more about the new museum, exhibits, and everything that we are doing at NMAL. It makes me very happy to see people getting involved and parents teaching their children to engage with their community, locally and globally.
After the prototype testing, Nadia, the Learning Lounge facilitator, was trained by Natalia, Adrián, and Emily on different activities. I also got to listen in on the training and complete some of the activities. I got to build a Lego scene of Josephine Ledesma's story, which is part of the Learning Labs that I worked on. It was very nice to actually do the activity whose Learning Lab counterpart I've been working on for a while, and experience it firsthand. Natalia had ordered custom-made Legos of both Josephine Ledesma and Emma Tenayuca so students can make a scene featuring either one of them out of Legos. The next activity I got to do was called "Science Behind the Spices", where Nadia and I built cinnamaldehyde, the molecule structure for cinnamon, out of a molecule science kit. This activity was very interesting to me, as I believe it is a great way to think about cultural foods and think about it from a STEM perspective. As Adrián explained, this activity can also be a way to legitimize cultural foods as some people may have grown up ashamed of their food. I really enjoyed learning more about the chemical formula of spices and foods and learn more about how science interacts with our food and the world around us. Pictured below is Nadia and I completed the “Science Behind the Spices” activity and my unfinished Lego scene of Josephine Ledesma.
Friday, I was back in NMAL offices with most of the team to discuss the community engagement calendar for the next year. I sat in on the meeting, learning more about the hard work it takes to create a conclusive calendar of NMAL programs and community engagement and everything it has to account for. Something that I observed is that everybody seems to be passionate and interested in bringing in many different topics and topics that I have never heard of before in order to increase engagement and the coverage of Latino-American history. While this meeting isn't meant to solidify every plan, it lays the groundwork so the team can continue to plan the programs. The importance of this work is extremely vital, since the community is the reason why this museums exists and why it needs to exist. There are so many stories in Latino-American history that deserves to be told, and it is our job to highlight them. Sitting in on this meeting, I am so inspired by the wonderful work that this team does and how hard they work to bring to life their ideas.
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