Campus and Community Program
As a Smithsonian Folklife Festival intern, I worked specifically for the Campus and Community Program, which celebrated how the U.S. Department of Agriculture and land-grant universities partner with communities to put research into action. Dozens of universities, along with the USDA, came to the Mall with exhibits showcasing some of their greatest research achievements.
Prior to the festival, I researched, wrote, and edited descriptions of participants, performing artists, and universities. I also reduced 300+ word descriptions to 50 words. One of the descriptions I researched and wrote is below:
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Because our program features several universities, we wanted to mimic a college campus by posting flyers all around our program that would advertise university exhibits, activities, and performances at the Festival. We created the flyers using Microsoft word, which were supposed to look cheesy and eye-catching. Below are some samples of the flyers I designed:
Apart from the office work, I worked on-site at the Mall to set up for the Festival. I was safety trained to use ladders and drive utility vehicles so that I could hang signs and transport materials. My set up duties also included arranging tables and securing tarps over packages that had been shipped over from universities.
During the festival, I spent a lot of time refilling water coolers for participants. Because those two weeks were the hottest and most humid days of the entire summer, water ran out fast. Every hour, another intern and I would drive the utility vehicles or use wagons to collect the water coolers, take them to a refill station, and bring them back to participants. On those over 100 degree days, lifting heavy water coolers was quite a challenge, but a necessary job to do.
During the first week of the festival, disaster struck. A storm destroyed the majority of our Festival, to the point where half the tents had collapsed and trash and exhibit items were strewn everywhere. We closed the festival that day, and worked tirelessly to pick things up and reorganize the best we could. Luckily, the festival was able to reopen the next day.
Unfortunately, another storm hit at about 2pm on the last day of the festival, forcing us to close early and urgently evacuate everyone from the mall. After the rain and lightening stopped, we cautiously went back onto the mall to take down signs, pack up exhibits, and take down the festival.
My most memorable experiences from the interactions I had with the participants. From the University of Hawaii’s tent, I learned how to make a rose out of a special leaf, how to create a constellation out of string, and about the experiences the participants had growing up in Hawaii. I learned how to play wheelchair basketball at the University of Illinois’ tent, I learned about the amazing features of University of Tennessee’s solar house, and I heard the inspiring story of a healer from the University of New Mexico. On the last day, I participated in Mexican laugh therapy, which made me laugh until I cried. I received gifts from participants from the University of Hawaii and University of New Mexico, and I made friends from all over the nation.
During the festival, I spent a lot of time refilling water coolers for participants. Because those two weeks were the hottest and most humid days of the entire summer, water ran out fast. Every hour, another intern and I would drive the utility vehicles or use wagons to collect the water coolers, take them to a refill station, and bring them back to participants. On those over 100 degree days, lifting heavy water coolers was quite a challenge, but a necessary job to do.
During the first week of the festival, disaster struck. A storm destroyed the majority of our Festival, to the point where half the tents had collapsed and trash and exhibit items were strewn everywhere. We closed the festival that day, and worked tirelessly to pick things up and reorganize the best we could. Luckily, the festival was able to reopen the next day.
Unfortunately, another storm hit at about 2pm on the last day of the festival, forcing us to close early and urgently evacuate everyone from the mall. After the rain and lightening stopped, we cautiously went back onto the mall to take down signs, pack up exhibits, and take down the festival.
My most memorable experiences from the interactions I had with the participants. From the University of Hawaii’s tent, I learned how to make a rose out of a special leaf, how to create a constellation out of string, and about the experiences the participants had growing up in Hawaii. I learned how to play wheelchair basketball at the University of Illinois’ tent, I learned about the amazing features of University of Tennessee’s solar house, and I heard the inspiring story of a healer from the University of New Mexico. On the last day, I participated in Mexican laugh therapy, which made me laugh until I cried. I received gifts from participants from the University of Hawaii and University of New Mexico, and I made friends from all over the nation.
After the festival was over, I completed a post-festival evaluation, which will be used to improve both the intern experience and the Festival in the future.
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Festival Tour Guide
Using my experience as a tour guide for the University of Maryland, I designed and led tours of the Campus and Community program.
Another intern, Silvia, was assigned to create a Spanish-speaking tour, so we collaborated on figuring out the logistics of the tour. We decided on a thirty minute tour with five stops of two to three minutes each. We also mapped out an appropriate tour route. I created a tour guide fact sheet, which included tour tips, to have on hand for anyone else who may have needed to give tours of the festival. For the fact sheet, I extracted the essential information from each university's description of their exhibits. I organized the sheet to match the order of the tents in the walking route of the Festival. I also added facts about tents that did not have descriptions available, such as the Commons, Reunion Hall, and the performing arts center. The tour guide fact sheet is below.
During the festival, groups would contact Betty to schedule a tour, and I would be notified of my tour schedule at the beginning of the day. I always personalized my tour to my audience - once, I gave a tour to one person, who requested a tour of the entire Festival. Because I was only familiar with the Campus and Community section, I quickly studied facts from the other two sections of the festival and collaborated with the Creativity and Crisis program's coordinator to give a successful whole Festival tour.
After the festival, I was assigned to create a virtual tour of the Campus and Community program for the website. I first drafted a plan for an interactive map of the program, but according to the webmasters, the plan was too complicated to implement. Instead, I created a tour of the gardens, which you can see below.
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