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FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — When Fort Leonard Wood’s John B. Mahaffey Museum Complex closed for the night, April 12, the party was just getting started — with 60 military children participating in a “Night at the Museum” overnight lock-in.
According to Eric Timmerman, museum complex chief, this was not only the first sleepover event at the museum, but he said it could be the first at any Army museum.
“We belong to the Army Museum Enterprise. We have been asking around and in the 38 Army museums we currently have, we believe this has never been done before. This is a great turnout. It is very exciting,” Timmerman said. “It is important for them to learn more about the three regiments and how they all work together. It is the perfect mix — they are learning while they are having fun. We partnered with Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation to make this happen and the FMWR team have set up some fun events for the kids to experience.”
The lock-in, open to children in sixth to 12th grades, was part of Fort Leonard Wood’s Month of the Military Child celebration, said Bridget Plummer, the school liaison officer for the Child and Youth Services Division of FMWR. And this event, she said, was created especially with teenagers in mind.
“I was asked if there was any way that we could spend the night at the museum, maybe take a night tour of the space. I think we did a little better than that,” Plummer said.
The three regiments that call Fort Leonard Wood home — Engineer, Military Police, and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear — each have their regiment’s history in a section of the complex. Plummer separated the teens in to three teams of 20, each representing a different regiment.
“There were nine activities in each section of the museum. Each team started in their own identified regiment and worked through the tasks, collecting clues before moving on to the next section. Some activities were simple group photos, others included lock boxes, fingerprint identification, spoon art and group tasks that all were developed and interacted with gallery exhibits,” Plummer said.
The teams were also given the mission of building a bridge with popsicle sticks and play dough. As the teams made their way through the museum, they had the opportunity to earn extra supplies for their bridge, such as rubber bands, glue dots, duct tape, skewers and string.
“I loved watching the bridge building collaboration and camaraderie built through the challenge breaks during bridge building. Teams were somewhat random, and it required students to get to know other teens that they didn’t know,” Plummer said. “By the end of the night, teams had come together and were cheering each other on through tasks.”
Destany Oster, a 14-year-old military child participating in the event, said she was excited to be able to take part in the fun-filled sleepover.
“Having an event for older military kids makes me feel appreciated and like I am a part of something bigger than myself. You can tell the people that organized this put a lot of thought into every detail,” Oster said. “We are having so much fun. Our team is working well together. We have had some issues with the bridge building, but we won a few challenges that got us more materials, so that evens itself out, I think.”
To make the night a success, Plummer said she had 49 “amazing” volunteers from several Fort Leonard Wood units.
One of those volunteers, 2nd Lt. Avery Parker, a Military Police Basic Officer Leader Course student, said she was happy to be there for the teenagers, even though she just came out of a tiring four-day tactical exercise in the field.
“I left my child at home to come to BOLC. I think it is important to celebrate military children. They go through a lot,” Parker said. “Our history is such a core part of our corps. I hope these kids learn that we are here for them, to keep their base safe for them. Besides, what’s one more night of not sleeping, right? It’s for a good cause.”
Plummer said the event was a success and she is thankful the museum staff is willing to host the event again next year.
“I hope we are able to bring some new patrons to the museum space. There are lots of really great things on display,” Plummer said.
| Date Taken: | 04.12.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.18.2024 11:05 |
| Story ID: | 468831 |
| Location: | FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Night at the Museum: Teens immerse in history at Army museum lock-in, by Melissa Buckley, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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