YTA at Smithsonian Summer Camps: Into Space!

At the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., I spent another week working as a Youth Teaching Assistant, this time for a camp about space and rocketry. Eighteen kids came each day, and I immediately noticed that they all had very different personalities. Some were loud and outgoing from the beginning, while others barely talked at first. Some planned every part of their rocket before touching the materials. Others started building immediately and figured things out as they went.

At the start of the week, a few of the quieter campers seemed unsure around me. They would listen when I explained an activity, but they usually went to the instructors when they had questions. As the week went on, that changed. They started asking me for help, showing me their designs, and telling me what they wanted to try next. Even during breaks, more of them came over to talk to me. Some were shy and polite initially. As I got to know them better and tried to learn their interests, they opened up. Eventually, many were comfortable asking endless questions, laughing at their own mistakes. 

I also had to learn how to work with each kid differently. Some wanted clear instructions and reassurance that they were doing the activity correctly. Others had their own ideas and mostly needed someone to listen. The more outgoing campers often wanted to answer every question, so I tried to make space for the quieter kids without putting them on the spot. During the egg drop challenge, I encouraged campers who had barely spoken earlier in the week to start explaining their designs to the rest of their group.

Even though a week is not a long time, it still provided me an opportunity to form tight bonds with my campers. I loved the process of getting to know them and becoming a supportive mentor as we explored the extensive and fascinating exhibits at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

The Human Story

My favorite museum is the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History because of the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. This exhibit caught my eyes because of its towering display of skulls and family tree showcasing the millions of years of evolutions that led to modern humans.

The most memorable part of the exhibit was the wall of skulls which included more than 75 replicas of early human fossil skulls from around the world. Looking at the skulls side by side in front of me made evolution feel more real. Each skull showed a slightly different version of what it meant to be human, from changes in brain size to differences in the jaw.

The reconstructions of early human ancestors were also fascinating. Instead of just showing the bones, the exhibit displayed lifelike heads created using fossils evidence and modern techniques. Being able to see what these species looked like when they were alive was amazing. It is one thing to read about a species in an article and another to look into their eyes.

What I liked the most about the exhibit was how it made human evolution feel both scientific and personal. It showed fossils, anatomy, climate change, and extinction, but it also raised the question of what it meant to be human. Humans are part of nature and we are all part of a larger story shaped by the world. This exhibit helped me understand why I care so much about studying humans. Anthropology combines biology, art and history in a way that makes the past feel connected to the present. The David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins shows how studying human evolution helps us better understand ourselves.

YTA at Smithsonian Summer Camps: Science in Art

At the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., I spent a week working as a Youth Teaching Assistant for a camp called Science in Art. Sixteen kids came each day to explore the ways art and science connect, with activities that combined creativity and experimentation. We made our own paint using natural pigments, learning how different ingredients change texture and color. We also created glow-in-the-dark drawings, using certain materials that lit up under blacklight. 

Helping with the camp meant being responsible for keeping the kids engaged, answering their questions, and making sure each one felt included. Some jumped right into each activity, while others needed more encouragement or step-by-step guidance. By the end of the week, I had learned how to adapt to different personalities, and how to keep a group on task. Working with the lead instructors also taught me the importance of communication, preparation, and staying calm when plans needed to change.

During camp we also visited several Smithsonian museums. At the National Museum of Natural History, I saw exhibits on fossils, gems, and dinosaurs. At the National Museum of Asian Art, I explored galleries filled with sculptures, paintings, and ceramics from across cultures. 

Working as a Youth Teaching Assistant showed me how patience, flexibility, and understanding can make learning fun for everyone. Just as the campers discovered new ways to combine art and science, I discovered new ways to work with and learn from both knowledgeable instructors and creative, energetic kids.

Gobbledygook

At the Smithsonian Youth Culture Fair in Washington, D.C., visitors can see how language and art reflect the changing world of teenagers. My favorite exhibit at the fair features a large wall covered in colorful wooden tiles, each one carved with a slang word. Some of the words include gnarly, slay, delulu, and gobbledygook. Next to each word is the decade when it became popular. This wall shows how slang can change meaning over time and come back in new ways. For example, gnarly first meant something gross, then it meant something really good, and now people use it to describe things that are cool in skating and surfing. The wall is part of the Museum of Contemporary American Teenagers, which is a project by students from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. It helps show how young people shape the words they use to fit who they are.

Along with the wall of slang, the fair also has a display of paintings made by teenagers. These artworks explore what it feels like to grow up in our modern world today. Some paintings show stacks of comic books and computer screens, such as in Asher Coelho’s In My Element, which mixes old and new ways of telling stories. Other pieces, like Bilen Tamirat’s Smile for the Camera, show how hard it can be to look happy on the outside when you feel imperfect inside. Leda Pelton’s What I will pack when I run away from home and Elizabeth Shanefelter’s Falling show feelings of wanting freedom but also being afraid of the unknown. Together, these paintings let visitors see what teenagers care about and how they express themselves through both words and art.

The wall of words and the student art gallery remind us that youth culture is constantly changing but always powerful. By sharing their slang and their artwork, these teens show how their voices, ideas, and creativity shape the world around them. The fair proves that when young people tell their own stories, everyone can see the world in a new way.

Darth Vader

On July 6, I visited Washington, D.C. to explore the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The festival brought together artists, students, and skilled craftspeople from around the country to share their work and tell their stories. People were carving stone, weaving colorful threads, painting murals, or sharing parts of their culture through hands-on exhibits. It was a celebration of both tradition and innovation.

At the event, one of the most impressive areas showcased how artists are helping to restore the Washington National Cathedral from the 2011 earthquake damage. Skilled stone carvers worked carefully to repair damaged pieces and recreate new ones using the same tools and techniques that have been passed down for generations. At the Washington National Cathedral, one of the carved statues is Darth Vader, created after a 1985 children’s “Draw-a-Grotesque” contest. The figure is more than 200 feet off the ground and is part of a collection of about 1,500 grotesques. This is a fascinating example of how new culture elements are included in historical settings.

The festival also included booths that celebrated crafts from different parts of the world. I saw a weaver using a loom to create colorful fabrics in traditional patterns. There were leather ropes and beadwork from ranching traditions, gold-painted ornaments, and intricate hand-carved decorations. One beautiful painting in the exhibit showed a woman surrounded by corn, flowers, and peppers, representing food, nature, and heritage all in one image. Each artwork and object had its own story and history.

All around the festival, people were making things by hand and showing how their work connects to their families, cultures, and communities. The Folklife Festival helped me see how traditions survive when people take the time to share them. Through stone, fabric, paint, and words, the fair showed that creativity is one of the most powerful ways to keep culture alive.

Law Rock

    One of my favorite stops during my trip to Iceland was at Þingvellir, also known as Althing National Park. As we walked through the park, our guide told us about how this was the place where the Vikings held their first parliament over a thousand years ago. The meeting place was called the Althing, and it began around the year 930. Chiefs and their families would travel from all over Iceland to gather here once a year to make laws and settle disputes. It was not a building like we think of today but an open-air meeting place in a valley surrounded by cliffs and streams.

    There is a tall Icelandic flag standing on a rocky ledge called Lögberg, which means “Law Rock.” Our guide explained that this was the spot where the lawspeaker would stand and recite the laws out loud for everyone to hear. It felt amazing to stand there and imagine the crowds of Vikings gathered below, listening carefully as decisions were made that shaped the early history of Iceland.

    During our visit to the park, we also went snorkeling. Þingvellir is famous for the clear, cold water that fills the fissures between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Snorkeling there was incredible. The water was so clear that it felt like floating through glass, and you could see the rocky bottom below. The water was very cold making it inhabitable for fish. The flag at Lögberg and the underwater views made Þingvellir one of the most memorable places of my trip.

Human Influence

When I visited Iceland this summer, I expected to see glaciers, black sand beaches, and volcanoes. What surprised me most was something our tour guide told us as we hiked on Iceland’s glaciers. He explained that a long time ago Iceland was covered in trees, and that it was the Vikings who irrevocably changed the land.

Over a thousand years ago, when the first Norse settlers came around 874 CE, Iceland was full of birch trees and shrubs. Those early Vikings needed wood for almost everything. They used it to build houses, make boats, and stay warm through the long winters. They also cleared land so their animals could graze. Over time, the trees disappeared, and with nothing to hold the soil in place, the strong winds carried much of it away. By the Middle Ages, most of the forests were gone, leaving behind the bare, rugged landscape that people see now.

Now, more than a thousand years later, Iceland is trying to bring its trees back. Across the country there are projects where people are planting birch and other hardy trees in valleys and on hillsides. These trees help keep the soil from blowing away, provide new habitats for birds and other animals, and slowly make the land greener again. Iceland may never look like it did before the Vikings arrived, but these efforts show how people today are trying to care for the land that was changed so long ago. Learning this history made me see the island in a new way.