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National Museum of Mexican Art - Citlalli Alaniz, Week 4

 Week 4 (July 22 - July 26)

My final week the campers and I, started off the week with a Zines presentation given by my supervisor and the week's instructor, Angela. The Zines assignment and project was given to the campers in order to display how much they have learned and how much fun they have had during their time at summer camp. The plan with the Zines was to have them displayed in front of their mini-musuems to show their parents how much they've done overall. 


After the brief presentation, the campers started a first draft of their zines and then got started creating and designing their official zines. 


Here are the campers paying attention to the presentation.


The following days were given to the campers as make up days in case they hadn't finished some of the components in their mini-museums. My job was to help them with anything we needed as well as work on camp superlatives to present them with on the last day.


After three make up days, the campers were scheduled to go on a field trip to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The Field Museum is of the biggest natural history museums in the world home to Egyptian mummies, the man-eating lions of Tsavo, and SUE, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered—and there is so much more in the research collections.

The campers got to explore the museum and learn more about the natural world, history, and preservation. They were able to touch fossils, squirrels, and turtle shells that were old on display. 










The campers in my group got to explore the Ancient Mayan, Incas, and Aztec exhibits displaying how they used to live in their villages.

Here is my favorite thing on display, the Aztec Calendar, that was more than 7ft tall and hundreds of pounds.




Once back, the campers had an enjoyable day and continued to work on their projects. Meanwhile, I was tasked to paint this banner displaying the camp's name. It was very calm and refreshing to just sit down and paint while the campers worked. I really enjoyed painting since I had not done it in so long.  














On Friday, the last day of the presentation, the campers preformed their baile folklorico up on stage, and then I called them up based on their superlatives we had given them. As I introduced them, Jade, the other youth mentor and I gifted them some gift bags as an appreciation and memory of summer camp. In the bags were stuffed axolotls, a certificate, hand written cards, and their water bottles.







The presentation ended with a reception and the opportunity for the parents of the campers to view their artwork and progress. And with that, summer camp finally ended, and although relieved, I left missing the museum faculty, my supervisor, and my campers who I spent a month getting to know. It was a great first job and I think I learned a lot about curation, museum design, and specific strategies within museums. I believe I developed my leadership skills and learned so much about the work place, children, and work place interactions. Thank you National Museum of Mexican Art! 





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