National Museum of the American Latino - Bisma Jhamat, Week 4!!

 

National Musuem of the American Latino - Bisma Jhamat, Week 4!!

              Semana Cuatro, Hemos Terminado!

Hola everyone! 

Welcome to my final YAP blog! It’s unreal to think four whole weeks have passed by. I’m super excited to share my final week one last time with you guys! Grab your popcorn and sit back and relax for the final showing of Semana Curato, Hemos Terminado 😃!

I started my week off by being tasked with creating a presentation about the project I’ve been working on. If you remember (and you’re a real one if you do!) My main project this internship was to help update the Smithsonian’s online platform, Learning Labs. As a refresher, this platform was created as a digital resource for educators, students, and people like you, to access valuable teaching materials, activities, and collections to learn from. However, this platform has not been updated since 2019, so it was my duty to make sure each collection's content aligned with the Smithsonian's US Latino Mission focus. 

On the last day of my internship, I gave a presentation of my findings. Here I created a PowerPoint presentation and presented it to the team. I provided my thoughts and ideas for future Learning Labs, as well as improvements for the website through data I collected. I even got a cute little goodie bag 😊. Overall, I learned a significant amount about museum work through its online collections and resources. 

On Wednesday, I was able to assist with an upcoming NMAL event happening in Kansas City and Charlotte, NC. NMAL will be conducting a “Bringing the Smithsonian to Your Classroom” event where they will be providing a free educator’s workshop. 

To prepare for the event, I was able to go down with the rest of the team to our storage unit (this is where all the magic happens!) Here, we spent the next few hours gathering all the materials needed for each respective location. From rubber bands and scissors to customized Smithsonian tote bags and motion censored lights, we packed multiple crates worth of supplies to make sure each event was a success. Through the chaos of packing, I was able to recognize that there is so much more that happens behind the scenes of museum work. Not only do people come to museums to gain knowledge, but museums constantly go out to other places to share their knowledge too. NMAL has taught me that information is meant to be shared with others to learn from and not meant to be confined in one spot, such as shared through the different programs we sponsor. 

As for the rest of the week, I was able to work on… my lowrider prototype! I know you’re a real one if you remember me mentioning this from my week one blog 😉! If you don’t know what I’m referring to, make sure to check that blog out!

As a refresher, I was tasked with creating a lowrider out of reusable materials and needed to find a hydraulic system that resembled an up and down movement. My solution, a pop socket! Yes, a pop socket. Not only are they cheap and look cute, but they contain a perfect up and down motion like a real low-rider car. Although I couldn't experiment with it this week, I still got to test out different versions as seen in the pictures. 

Andddd that’s a wrap 🎥! Thank you so much for reading my blogs these past few weeks. I had an amazing experience and will cherish every learning moment I had. I will truly miss updating you guys on my week but stay tuned for future content! Until next time, bizzy j out ✌️🎤.

- Bisma J.