The Kids Are Alright

Secretary Bunch explores how we must engage young people if the Smithsonian is to “have tomorrow, bright before us, like a flame.”

Whenever I step into a Smithsonian museum on a busy weekend, I always pause for a moment to absorb the expansive scenes of discovery playing out in front of me — first-time visitors asking for directions to exhibitions; children following their parents like ducklings towards the cafes; people from across the country and around the world marveling at objects they had only seen in pictures.

One type of interaction always stands out for me: Seeing a young person approach a tour guide, curator, or staff member, shake their hand, and introduce themself. Every time I see that happen, no matter the gallery, no matter the people, Langston Hughes’ words ring in my ear, “We have tomorrow, bright before us, like a flame.”

This year’s Folklife Festival, “Youth and the Future of Culture” celebrated the tremendous contributions and experiences of young people in America today. In honor of this theme, it feels apt to highlight youth culture within the Smithsonian and a few ways teens make us a better Institution for both today and tomorrow.

Students from the Olathe Youth Leadership Lowrider Bike Club in Olathe, Kansas develop leadership skills while building lowrider bicycles. The group was among the participants in the Lowrider Culture demonstrations at the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Photo by Chris Erazo, Nrown Bow Media.

Whether they are working towards lifelong careers, spending the summer as a part-time intern, or participating in afternoon workshops, teenagers brighten every corridor of our museums and research centers. Though I am grateful for the adult visitors who spend their free time with us, and I am delighted by the children who roam our activity centers, I am amazed by the Smithsonian’s ability to captivate those in-between. I remember when my daughters were that age, and, as Kelly Harro, a coordinator for Air and Space’s Explainers Program, puts it, “They’re teenagers! How are we possibly going to get them to care about museums?”

Explainers Program at Air and Space

When I first interviewed at Air and Space shortly after its founding, my teenage days were behind me, but I was still inexperienced enough that I did not fully understand the role that an African American historian of the 19^th century would play at a museum about aerospace. It took me time to grasp the importance of fresh perspectives, of bringing something new to a museum that symbolizes — now and then — forward progress. The Explainers Program, a crown jewel of the Air and Space museum and our Institution-wide youth opportunities, runs on the same idea.

A corps of student “explainers” are on hand at the Air and Space Museum’s “How Things Fly” gallery to answer questions, provide assistance, and give demonstrations (and sometimes play tug-of-war.) Photo by Carolyn Russo | Smithsonian.

Founded in 1996, the program employs dozens of high school and college students and trains them to be educational liaisons to our visitors. The current cohort is 180 young adults, the largest group to-date. In their trademark red polos, activity carts in tow, our teen teachers inspire over 850,000 visitors annually through interactive gallery programs. “They are essential staff members,” says Kelly. “They are the public face of education at the National Air and Space Museum.”

Originally, Explainers had their home base in the hands-on “How Things Fly,” gallery in the museum’s National Mall Building, demonstrating fundamental forces of flight to visitors of all ages. Through time, they proved to be such adept educators that the program expanded to almost every inch of both the museum on the Mall and the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Additionally, since 2020, Explainers from across the United States have been bringing virtual planetarium shows, stories about science, and demonstrations into classrooms as far away as Alaska and Indonesia via a new suite of digital programs. Explainers have even shown the initiative to develop new stations themselves, including one about heroines of air and space, which came into the rotation over the last year.

While they are transforming visitors’ experiences, these young people are also remolding themselves. “I can’t tell you how many times I have interviewed a high school or college student to be an Explainer,” says Kelly. “And they told me that they wanted this job because they remembered coming to the museum as a six-year-old and talking to this cool young educator in the red shirt.” Many choose to spend their most formative years with the Smithsonian; some are here five or six years, since they are eligible to remain until they graduate college. Every year, they find more and more confidence in their identity as a “STEM person,” even when they did not classify themselves as such prior to the program. Often, they go on to careers in aerospace, aviation, and museum studies — a personal point of pride for Kelly and me. In the evaluation of the program’s long-term impact, Kelly routinely sees Explainers mention that working at the Smithsonian was one of the most impactful experiences of their entire lives.

Design Practice and Design Hive at Cooper Hewitt

I wore many hats, construction and otherwise, while building the National Museum of African American History and Culture, but one I especially treasured was that of designer. Working with our architects, I learned about the limitless considerations of design in the context of a building: How do you use elements to symbolize a culture? How do you create spaces for reflection? How do you ensure the restrooms will not go up in flames?

At the Cooper Hewitt, the Smithsonian museum of design, teenagers are exploring these questions and more through a range of programs. “We try to meet students where they are in terms of their understanding of design,” says Kirsten McNally, Cooper Hewitt’s education manager. Her team recognizes that New York teenagers already have broad perspectives on the subject. Some view themselves as architects or fashion experts; some just know they like to draw. The museum takes a clever tiered approach to its programming to accommodate for these different levels of skill and interest.

Leather Accessories Workshop with Mia Wright Ross- Design Hive Cohort 23-24

“A lot of what we do is just bridge-building between students and design professionals and creative people,” says Kirsten. For example, Cooper Hewitt hosts a career fair with more than thirty designers to show what is possible with an interest in design.

For students who want to explore further, Cooper Hewitt offers drop-in, low stakes workshops called Design Practice, where they get to tour the museum, meet with working designers, and try out new design techniques. Even for students with extensive training, the workshops provide opportunities to try something new. Students have walked in with a certainty that they are budding fashion designers, only to walk out with an interest in interior design, says Kirsten. The sessions curate a sense of wonder and possibility that is quintessentially Smithsonian.

Cooper Hewitt also empowers teens to tailor their own design education. Five years ago, the museum assembled a group of their regular youth visitors and asked them to help launch a new, more intensive program. The outgrowth of their dedicated efforts is Design Hive, a paid internship program for high school juniors and seniors. After the isolation of the pandemic, students said they craved community, collaboration, and confidence — all of which are required for a career in design. Design Hive’s cohort structure has led to a remarkable cycle of students who later become mentors, increasing and diffusing knowledge across peer groups and generations alike. “Design is perfect for building agency, because design is about problem-solving,” says Kirsten. “It gives them a sense of agency in a key time, when they’re starting to imagine themselves in the future.” Recent alumni have even contributed to other parts of the Institution, including creating graphics for this year’s Folklife Festival.

Students in the 2023 – 2024 Design Hive cohort at Cooper Hewitt learn about research in the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Library. Smithsonian image

Through studying design, young Americans are also learning the role of history in shaping the present. Cooper Hewitt is a museum of historical and contemporary design, a place that looks at how things were to imagine how they might be. These programs invite teenagers, some of our best dreamers, to join that conversation.

Remodeled Summer Internships at National History

I often say that the Smithsonian is this nation’s reservoir of knowledge, a place to dip into for learning about everything from tectonic plates to 16th-century art. But it is also an ecosystem of its own, particularly in the museum world. The remodeled high school internship program at the National Museum of Natural History takes advantage of the everyday activities at our buildings, inviting students to be a part of the action.

Student interns at the National Museum of Natural History. (Smithsonian image)

Growing out of the former Youth Engagement through Science (YES!) program, which emphasized science communication skills, the new internships encompass everything from facilities to human resources to lab work. “It really is an internship to expose interested high school students to the workings of a museum,” says Carla Easter, NMNH’s director of education. These interns — who started just last month — already are forging relationships throughout the museum, pulling the curtain back to learn how it keeps the electricity running and the bug conveyor belt rolling along.

The focal point of the internship remains the beating heart of the Smithsonian: our scholarship. Interns learn to manage Arachnida and Myriapoda samples, contribute to participatory science projects on pollinators, and decide how best to incorporate moths into our collections. “Who knew there were that many high school students who are into bugs?” Carla jokes.

But the internship aims to foster cross-pollination within and across the museums. “It changes this culture to say that this is the next generation of entomologists,” says Carla, “This is the next generation of exhibit designers and educators.” Since the high school students work during the same season as the undergraduate interns, they also have an opportunity to imagine themselves in the near future and to be a part of our phenomenal community.

There is no single way an intern experiences the Smithsonian, and there is no single way an internship can be structured. My hope is that every person who spends time with the Smithsonian, whether for an hour, a summer, or a career, feels transformed in some way, big or small. These programs are just a tiny sampling of the youth opportunities at the Institution, and I urge any unit considering teenage programming to think boldly about how the Smithsonian can embrace this generation of learners and leaders. We are only made better by their insights, and, as Carla says, “They are so much fun. They keep you young.”

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the country, it is a moment to celebrate and reflect on how the Smithsonian can be a museum for all Americans. Youth programs are an incredible opportunity for us to introduce ourselves to our future, bright as a flame.