-First I got the grand tour of the place, which includes a brand new National Archives Experience, that houses the Public Vaults, Learning Lab, Resource Room, and other gallery and movie space. This is the place where I will be spending most of my time, if not in my office.
-I had many other tours, ( I think it's around 5 in three days), each led by a different member of the Ed team. It's so interesting to hear each of them speak, as they point out different aspects of the Archives. Hopefully, I will have my unqie tour down soon.
- Orientation, Orientation, Orientation. I have a feeling this will be a long process. Since I am going to be there for an extended period of time, I will be in Orientation awhile. I am almost through it, but next week is still full of it. Most of it involves learning about what the Archives holds, how we get it, where it came from, and what we keep. There are also many building tours, talks with different departments in the building, and computer instruction.
Today was my first day I guess of actually getting to help others and make a difference. This morning I visited the Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy up on the Hill. I was there to help judge a competition/ mock congressional hearing that the high school students put on. Using their resources from the Center for Civic Education and their textbooks, each group prepared a four minute presentation about an aspect of the Constitution, and then were grilled by the judges in six minutes in a question and answer session. It was such a joy to see these students use their knowledge and be EXCITED about using it and sharing it with 0thers. This is one of my passions in life and it is thrilling to see it be lived out. Some of these students moved on to the district competition also being hosted in DC next week. I am excited to see these students, as well as others from across the district share their knowledge and young expertise to all of us.
The rest of my day was spent in the ReSource Room, a place for anyone to come and do research on the documents we have on display at the Archives. I had a few families wander into the room and look through our resources. Most seemed to be overwhelmed and not sure where to begin, but one little boy just jumped the gun and followed me around the room for the quite awhile. It was so awesome showing him all the cool things that we have, and I think his parents were thankful for coming in. This is what we do at the Archives and what I have learned this first week: we are here to preserve the nation's history and to share it with others in the hopes that they will find something that will light up their eyes just like that little boy did today.
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