The Arizona Science Center has long engaged adult volunteers age 50+ as docents, and in
other conventional volunteer roles, but only recently the Center began to tap volunteers’ science and technology skills to enhance its programs. Jan Stonebraker, the Science Center volunteer coordinator of four years, entered the position as the Center launched a large travelling exhibition titled Body Worlds 3, an exploration of biology and anatomy.
Stonebraker identified knowledgeable volunteers to help staff the exhibition. At around the same time, the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust funded a leadership grant program, through the National Council on Aging (NCOA), to engage adult volunteers age 50+ in leadership roles. The Science Center development staff and Stonebraker designed a program that would qualify for a grant. Stonebraker found that many volunteers were retired mechanical and electrical engineers, information technology specialists, and science teachers who wanted to help the Center. It made eminent sense to use their skills to enhance educational programs.
A proposal was submitted to NCOA to create a new role for the Science Center’s volunteers that would encourage the use of their experiences and skills on the Center’s behalf. The Science Center was awarded $43,000 over a two-year period, to become the seed for Friends of Science and Technology Education (FOSTE). Since the grant has ended, FOSTE has become self-sustaining. The adult volunteers age 50+, with science backgrounds, now serve as a FOSTE advisory council, and are an integral part of the everyday operation and activity of the Center.
Stonebraker describes one volunteer who serves as testament to the impact of FOSTE volunteers on the Center and its visitors. A science teacher, this FOSTE volunteer created a new activity for the museum: dissecting a sheep’s brain in the Science Center’s theater. Described as a born teacher, the volunteer can talk to five-year-olds and Ph.D.s with equal facility; after finishing the dissection of the brain, she completed the same procedure with a sheep’s heart. Stonebraker says that the teacher creates so much enthusiasm that she literally gets people jumping up and down in excitement about learning. The volunteer’s work is so impressive that she was asked to present her human brain demonstration at Alan Alda’s preview of the PBS documentary, The Human Spark.
FOSTE volunteers manage to accomplish a great deal with very little. Referring to several of them, Stonebraker comments that, “These folks are from the old school, where you build a crystal skull out of what’s in the dumpster.” Prior to the start of a new program, a volunteer orientation serves to identify their professional skills. Stonebraker learns the volunteers’ backgrounds and assigns them roles to comport with their experience and preferences. Volunteers always have a long and diverse list of activities to which they can be assigned, and additionally are encouraged to suggest their own ideas. To date, volunteers have created over 50 new activities.
Lastly, the advisory council has also created a training and mentoring program for student volunteers, and today works closely with the senior managers at the Science Center. In the midst of a major construction project at the Center, the advisory council has been working with staff on devising methods to keep patrons comfortable in the midst of construction and demolition.
The Arizona Science Center is a hub for volunteer activism, demonstrating that tapping professional skills and experiences within a corps of volunteers can be an enormous asset. This creates a truly reciprocal relationship, with the Center benefitting from services at no charge, and adult volunteers age 50+ engaging in meaningful and fulfilling work.
For more information visit The Arizona Science Center website