Jul

Kent Wang honored with President’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Kent Wang, a volunteer docent at the National Air and Space Museum, was presented with the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award in a ceremony May 21 at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Presented by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Office of the President, the award honors a “lifetime commitment to building a stronger nation through volunteer service.”

Kent Wang has been a volunteer docent at the National Air and Space Museum since 1997,

Kent Wang has given more than 4,000 hours of service to NASM over the course of 21 years as a volunteer and has shared his love of air and spacecraft with hundreds of thousands of curious museum visitors. Each member of the volunteer corps is inspired to share their love of flight, but Kent has a special knack for connecting with visitors during gallery tours. Besides being a great storyteller, Kent takes an imaginative approach to interpreting exhibits. For example, he may spin visitors around to demonstrate how airplanes stay aloft. “I love doing things that make the museum a place where you can have fun while you learn,” he says.

Kent Wang may have visitors spin in a circle to help demonstrate how airplanes fly.

Kent takes visitors into the galleries and lets them travel in time with his storytelling. He works to get visitors’ perspectives and establish relationships with them. He improvises to accommodate their interests and tailors the pacing and delivery of his tours in response. Why use precious tour time for storytelling? Museums are increasingly being transformed into hybrid spaces, where virtual and digital information coexists with tangible artifacts. Storytelling has “grabbing power.” Even in this age of electronic extravaganzas and microseconds, the words “let me tell you what happened” command attention.

During his 21 years as a docent, Kent has learned how to deal with visitors ranging from rowdy high-school boys to former pilots to confused foreigners while remaining professional. “I always do a little meditation exercise” before tours, Kent says. “You have to like people in this job. Sometimes, those with an extremely detailed knowledge of aviation history may try to correct you when you’re talking, or kids may interrupt,” he says. “You have to learn not to get upset.”

Kent Wang loves aircraft and sharing his knowledge with visitors.

Kent also conducts tours in Chinese several times a week and will speak Mandarin if he senses a visitor may be more comfortable using that language. The Air and Space Museum is extremely popular with Chinese visitors. “The Wright Flyer and Apollo Lunar Module are real draws,” Kent says. “I feel that it is important to emphasize for foreign visitors the role Americans played in aviation and space exploration,” Kent says. “We were the big shots!”

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the best in the American spirit, and encourages all Americans to improve their communities through volunteer service, and civic participation. Kent Wang is a wonderful example of that spirit and an inspiration for his creativity in sharing the history of aviation and space flight with hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Congratulations, Kent, and thank you for your service!