What is the Museum Youth Club?

The San Bernardino County Museum Youth Club is a group of seventh and eighth graders whose members get together at the Museum each week to learn more about the world and their place in it. They explore new ideas, do activities, make new friends, and have fun together while learning more about the Museum and all that it holds. MYC members attend weekly meetings, go on field trips, have special activities just for them, and volunteer at the Museum.

Who Can Join the Museum Youth Club?

• enjoy learning new things.
• want to make friends with other kids with similar interests.
• like working with younger children in a hands-on and educational atmosphere.
• will attend MYC meetings and volunteer regularly.

We Learn Cool Things!

• Starting in the fall of 2010, we’ll learn about prehistoric people in this area when we explore anthropology and archaeology. We will experience what their lives might have been like by making and using some of the tools, musical instruments, clothing, and games that they used long ago. We will take a special field trip to try to discover some prehistoric artifacts ourselves.
• In the spring of 2011, we will learn about living things, like plants and animals and the environments they live in. We’ll spend a lot of time in the Exploration Station, our live animal gallery, learning about the animals that live here at the Museum. We will take a day-long biology field trip in the spring, possibly to The Living Desert.
• Starting in the fall of 2011, we will focus on geology and paleontology. We will visit the Geology Division of the Museum and talk to the curators of geology and paleontology. We will try earthquake experiments on buildings we construct. We’ll collect rocks and minerals, make crystals, see the San Andreas Fault, and much more. We plan to go to the La Brea Tar Pits to see some Ice Age fossils.
• History will be the topic in the spring of 2010, when we’ll learn about people and their lives in the “old days” of San Bernardino County. We’ll explore a cemetery, create pictures of old houses, make adobe bricks, dip candles, take some “historic” mini-field trips in the Redlands area, and other fun activities. In the spring, we will have an all-day field trip to get a taste of old California.
• At the end of each year, we invite our families to our annual MYC Family Party, where we share some of the activities and games from that year.

We Love to Volunteer!

• All MYC members volunteer at the Museum at least 15 hours each year.
• MYC volunteers help other kids learn while they enjoy cool, hands-on activities at the Museum’s Family Fun Days throughout the year.
• At our living history Adobe Days, we get to dress up and lead visitors as they experience some of the activities that people did in the 1800s, like rug-beating, adobe brick-making, candle-dipping, and making corn husk dolls.
• We help kids create art using the wonderful supplies that nature provides during the Wildlife Art Festival in November.
• We introduce young children to Santa at our Santa’s Pajama Parties in December.
• We teach people more about trains during our All Aboard! Train Days in January.

We Attend Regularly!

• Weekly meetings (Wednesday or Thursday) from about 3:25 – 6:00 p.m.
• Evenings at the Museum
• Field Trips
• Special Activities

How Can You Join the Museum Youth Club?

MYC adds new seventh and eighth grade members to join returning eighth grade members in the fall of each year. 7th and 8th graders who are interested in joining MYC must complete an application. The completed application needs to be turned in to Nancy Kirkwood, the Museum Youth Club Coordinator, at one of the mandatory MYC Orientation meetings. If you wish to join the Wednesday group, come to the orientation on either September 15 or 22. If you wish to join the Thursday group, come to the orientation on either September 16 or 23. Everyone at each orientation has an equal opportunity of acceptance; the orientation you attend will not affect your application.

The first meeting for all new seventh grade Museum Youth Club members will be either Wednesday, September 29, or Thursday, September 30, 2010.

To apply, just print the four-page application, and then bring it with you to the orientation at the Museum on September 15, 16, 22, or 23.

Mandatory MYC Member and Parent Orientation:

All students who want to be in the Museum Youth Club in 2010-11 must attend an orientation with one or both parents/guardians. We will give a short presentation about what the Museum Youth Club is and does, expectations, and responsibilities. Parents and new members will receive a welcome letter with more details, as well as a calendar of meeting dates and other MYC activities. Parents will organize the MYC snack schedule and arrange carpools from the various school sites. Parents and kids will get a chance to talk to the MYC staff and some current MYC members, and get all of their questions answered.

• Location – Education Center (just north of the train)
  San Bernardino County Museum
  2024 Orange Tree Lane
  Redlands, California
• If you want to attend the Wednesday MYC meetings, please attend Orientation on either September 15 or 22 from 5:45 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• If you want to attend the Thursday MYC meetings, please attend Orientation on either September 16 or 23 from 5:45 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

A Few Comments

You can learn things and go places you might not be able to go yourself. It’s a lot of fun when you get to go behind-the-scenes, like going in the Museum’s basement to see hundreds of dead birds in drawers. It was freaky! But my favorite thing at the Museum has always been the live animals!

My favorite part is volunteering at the Museum! I volunteered over 50 hours just this year, and I sign up every time I can. I also like making friends with all the other MYC kids.

I miss the MYC! I loved being a part of it. It was like, "I go to the museum every week. I've been places you wouldn't dream of in there. I know the inside – and you don’t!" We always did so many interesting things and exciting stuff. Especially all the geology – I still get a kick out of rocks. I miss being in on the action!

What a great program this is! My son enjoyed every single meeting last year and is looking to this new MYC year with great interest! This is the perfect activity for him, and I want to thank you for allowing him to participate in this marvelous experience.

Education! I like having fun activities when we learn new things. And it’s good community service, like helping younger children at Family Fun Days.

Questions ???