Week 6, part three, going aboard a U.S Navy destroyer and making glow stick lanterns - OR, How I finished my internship.

Display ship Barry

Seeing as the boys were taken on board the Barry last week, me and some of the other interns had the opportunity to look inside this week, with the girls. The ship was a US Navy destroyer, and from 1954 to 1982 Barry toured the Caribbean, Atlantic and Mediterranean. The ship played a part in both the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's far narrower below deck than you'd think, for a ship of such a large size. I don't usually get claustrophobic, but I did feel conscious of how little space there was as climbed through hatches and up again via small steps. If I felt like that at 5'2, what must it have been like for taller sailors? I suppose they had more pressing matters to adjust to, like other ships firing on them. It didn't help that we were also with around twenty 8-12 year olds, and so every time a tiny 8 year old climbs down a set of metal stairs you're wondering theoretically how quickly you could move in such an enclosed space to catch them.

 

That being said, being able to say that I've been onboard a US retired destroyer ship is very cool. (Well actually, it was boiling on the top deck but much cooler below...) The fact that at several points in its life hundreds of men lived and worked on that ship is incredible, it's like physically standing on a piece of history, or rather, a vessel which made history wherever it went.

 

Just found this, the Barry has its own Wikipedia page! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Barry_(DD-933) 

Adding liquid glow sticks into empty water bottles to make glow stick lanterns!

As an almost complete juxtaposition to the previous week, Girls' camp (Women Make History camp) actually left us with enough space to breath and the ability to think. Though the girls were talkative, they were generally more responsive than the boys and did not embody the whole "I'm going to start a fight every 5 minutes" mentality. Of course, only a minority of the boys did this, but they were a loud and persistent minority.

Anyway, the point is, the girls were able to have a lot more fun. Seeing as they covered more lesson material, and completed all of their craft activities on time, they were able to have a mini-disco at the end of the day. This was made possible by turning off all of the lights in the gallery that we were working in, and using the "water effects" lighting (literally, there were lights for the permanent Cold War exhibit which gave the effect of being underwater). Who would have thought that the middle of a Cold War exhibit, with replica submarine hull nearby, could make such a good dance party backdrop.

I've never seen lanterns made with glow sticks before, but now the sight of 50 or 60 blurry shapes, dancing to Taylor Swift/ One Direction, and clutching illuminated water bottles is burned into my mind. If this is all sounding slightly bizarre, then welcome to summer camp at the museum!

It's amazing what you can make children (and interns) do if promised a glow stick dance party. Regardless, I think the kids at both summer camps had a great time. Whether they were earning points for their "battalion" (complete with self-made banners), cheering when their egg survived its parachute-drop, or generally going mental when it came to collecting prizes at the end of the week. The prize collecting (or rather,  prize purchasing using paper money earned during the camp) involved me and the other interns "banking" a system of paper money, called "Bunny bucks" and trying to solve monetary disputes between 9 year olds...

This is the US Navy's own official article on the camps - http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=75994

From sitting and eating lunch in the park (whilst the children scared us silly by climbing on and over old model cannons and submarine sails, never mind trees...) to attempting to explain to confused visitors what exactly was going on in the museum, these camps were the highlight of my time at the Navy Yard. Weeks of preparing folders for the students, lesson plans, activity instructions and craft material were finally realised, and I have my supervisors as well as the other interns to thank for that. A few interns had to leave before the camps started, or part way through (to those of you that missed Girls' camp - it was awesome) but all of us got to see the fulfilment of their individual and collaboration projects.

Week 3, part three, Work

Front of the Navy Yard museum

I realised I haven't said much about what I do during the week, when I'm not sight-seeing.

I work in the Navy museum's Education Department, which gives tours, home-school lessons, and summer camps, as well as hosting school visits. I work with a team of American interns who are all college students and History "majors" (History is the primary focus of their studies), some come from as far away as Los Angeles, California, but most are local, from Virginia, Arlington and Maryland. We write up lesson plans, using books and the museum's existing curriculum, we make up folders for the students and we set up experiments and equipment for the activities in lessons!

The last week saw the beginning of the first of the summer camps, based around the construction of an underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle). Each day has a lesson (focusing on Naval history, e.g. how an underwater ROV uncovered the Titanic, or a reel of American satellite film during the Cold War) an activity (e.g. making "submarines" out of water bottles, coins and tape) and then the students work in groups to make their robots, with us assisting them.

The students, who range from about 9 to 15 years old, are sometimes accompanied by parents and relatives, sometimes not. A few of the "moms and dads" help out with the circuit boards because they're engineers or they have experience with electronics. Despite the fact that I haven't held a soldering iron in over 5 years, nor have I ever used a drill, I've really enjoyed helping each group with their project! It's incredible how much even the youngest students are capable of, watching them finally get to race their under water vehicles in a horse-trough was very rewarding!

Barry! Display ship (retired Destroyer) docked outside the museum.

A pretty unique surrounding to work in...

Army personnel regularly turn up just to see what's going on, or to look around the museum. Sometimes they observe lessons, or help out. Live music streams every morning as I walk past the Marine Barracks, I think it's a marching band which accompanies the raising of the flag or something.

2 Awkward moments whilst running the camp this week;

1. A 10 year old boy is playing on one of the guns in the museum, shooting at an imaginary enemy. "Who are you shooting at?" I ask, "the British of course!"he replies...
2. Some of the younger children seem to have trouble understanding my accent. One boy watched me give a safety demonstration only to ask at the end; "what are googles?". Now I say "safety glasses". In addition, it took about 5 minutes to clarify what the word "soldering" meant, because in the U.S it's pronounced "SAW-DER-RING". Also, petri dishes are pronounced "PEE-TREE" dishes. This is just like the "pipe-ettes" episode.