Jersey City Youth Corps: Standout Saturday's at JECM

STANDOUT SATURDAY'S AT JECM #1

Jamal, Chris and Rey organize books for guest giveaways.

Saturday February 22, 2014 was a great day at the Jersey Explorer Children’s Museum. In addition to having our walk-in guests and a wonderful visit from Guiding Star United Holy Church, the JECM hosted students from New Jersey Institute of Technology who will be working with the Youth Corps program on a variety of projects intent on enhancing the museum for current and future uses.

Making sure our Youth Corps students gain proper professional development experience is a major priority for our program. Staff is able to elevate their current positions by becoming Floor Manager for a day, which increases their responsibilities and allows them to flourish from a different perspective. They have to learn and develop leadership qualities, time management skills and a positive attitude to successfully complete a busy day.

Our Floor Manager of the week was Stephanie, and she had a cooperative cast of hard working Youth Corps students that did their part to ensure the day went smoothly without a hitch. Stephanie was responsible in putting staff in their positions, conversing and welcoming our guests, keeping the staff on track with the exhibit rotations and keeping watch on the different events taking place throughout the building. Saturdays are typically very busy with many different variables, and Stephanie maintained her composure and focus throughout her shift. She spoke with a confident tone at the end of the day about her experience:

“My experience in being floor manager is it's difficult at times but you just have to keep yourself composed. Make sure everyone has a good time. The hardest part of my job today was taking the walk-ins and having them sit down and organized. It sounds easy but that was the hardest part. The best part of my job today was seeing all the smiles on the kids faces when they left. My advice for future floor managers is to make sure you know what you are doing and have a very good schedule.”

Working with a very capable and intelligent team, Stephanie had the services of Jamal, Rey, Shakira, Kennay, Chris, Steven and Ryan who ran exhibits ranging from the Ancient Tomb treasure hunt, Jukebox and Science. Tequan, who was a standout in last semesters group of Youth Corps students, volunteered his services as well.