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This past weekend, the Virginia Museum of Transportation hosted ¨Candy Express,¨an event that engages the community in learning about the different types of transportation we have while adding a winter wonderland theme. As a team, we worked together; we decorated the entire museum and set up activities for people of all ages. At the event, I was in charge of crafts and letters for Santa. In my elf costume, I helped the children that came through by reading them instructions, coming up with ideas, and even for some of them writing their letters. I worked with kids of all ages and had great conversation with their parents. I loved working this day because I got to be more involved and not just working the background. I’m glad this was my last main event at VMT because I got to see everything come together. The staff helped one another and created a great event for the Roanoke community. Everyone worked together to ensure that the visitors truly experienced the Museum in the holiday spirit. I am so grateful for this semester at the museum and for all that the staff and volunteers have taught me, not only about working in a museum but what it means to be excited about your work and helping to educate others.

As our country was celebrating Veterans’ Day, the Museum of Transportation wanted to express its gratitude for those who have served. I had the chance to go through the museum and find any sort of military connection that the exhibits may have. Then, I created a guided tour for anyone who came in on Saturday. Unfortunately, most people wanted to explore the museum on their own but that lead me to create a quick print out version of my tour and give it to visitors. It was upsetting at first to not feel like I succeeded in the tour but it allowed me to see that sometimes you have to improvise and its a learning process to see what people like more. I enjoyed being able to have my military research given to the public and briefly interact with visitors. The picture here is taken from the “thunder bird” used during the Roanoke Veterans’ Day parade. The parade ended at VMT to allow more people to visit.

In our auto gallery the cars often are changing, but this time it is a little more special. The museum is hosting “Hollywood Cars” for the next few weeks. On display are the actual cars from famous movies, such as Dukes of Hazzard, Herbie Fully Loaded, Ghostbusters, and even one of the only non-damaged cars from the Fast and Furious franchise. This is an exciting time for the museum and car buffs of Roanoke. Along with these famous vehicles, the museum also lost a few cars but nonetheless is making it up with these new donations. It is great to see how the museum world is always changing and the process that the institution goes through. I am really excited to be able to be here and helping with the new Hollywood cars exhibit!

The city of Roanoke organized an event for the community called the “Generic Magic Festival.” The goal was to engage families in the institutions participating such as the Virginia Museum of Transportation. At the museum, we created two fun programs for children and their parents to take part in. Inside, they could make slime and create dry ice tricks with steam. Outside with all the trains was where I was located and had broom races. Unfortunately, not a lot of children showed up because the weather was not great, but it was still a wonderful experience being a part of the magic festival. I enjoyed helping put things together and watching the few kids that did show up learn and use their “magic” powers throughout the day.

I started my internship about two weeks ago at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. For the rest of the semester I will be working with the education department in the museum to organize programs for younger visitors as well as help improve the existing exhibits. The museum has galleries about automobiles, trains, and aviation. As the education intern, my job is to correlate these exhibits with the Virginia Standards of Learning.

These last two weeks have been filled with learning and meeting a lot of new people. Most of the people I have met are volunteers and just do it for the love of history, transportation, Roanoke, or even all three. I’m excited to see what this semester of interning has in store. I have already met great people who are teaching me a lot about the museum world.