Especially during the summer, the Museum of Discovery buzzes, hums and often squeals with small children darting from one colorful, playful exhibit to another under the watchful eyes of a small army of teen helpers in T-shirts.
More often than not, one of those teens is 17-year-old Skye Rippentrop-Pridmore, a senior at Central High School who has racked up about 600 volunteer hours in her four years at the museum. It's an achievement that helped her win the Arkansas Museums Association's Outstanding Museum Volunteer of the Year Award, an award open to volunteers of all ages, not just teenagers, in museums large and small across the state.
Her first year of high school, she went to Episcopal Collegiate, which has a volunteer hours requirement for graduation. The volunteer adviser at the school told her about the Museum of Discovery's Summer Volunteer Program.
Initially, she was skeptical about volunteering for what she thought might be "just camps for little kids," but she was surprised.
"I liked it, so I stayed," she says, even when she transferred to Central, which has no such requirement.
Rippentrop-Pridmore was one of the first participants in the museum's revamped Summer Volunteer Program, which began in 2012.
According to program director Thomas Lipham, the earlier incarnation of the volunteer program was unstructured. "We weren't really hitting the goals we wanted to: to develop leadership skills, problem-solving skills as well as valuable resume-builders."
So they instituted a more rigorous application process that requires recommendations, an essay and an interview -- similar to the process the young people will find when applying for scholarships, schools and jobs in "the real world." The more rigorous process has led to a more dedicated, competent corps of volunteers.
The counselors who are selected for the Summer Volunteer Program have training before working for two to five weeks with the Summer Day Camp, helping with cleanup and educational sessions and keeping an eye on children during free time.
It's not necessarily the easiest of tasks. With its bright colors and educational hands-on exhibits, it's tempting for little ones to wander. The museum staff have to trust the teen volunteers to be vigilant.
After the summer camps are over, the volunteers are frequently invited to pitch in for special events like fall's Tinkerfest. And one of the most dedicated and omnipresent volunteers has been Rippentrop-Pridmore.
On a given day, she may be doing data entry in the office, helping campers open juice boxes and packets of string cheese or holding a hedgehog for a young visitor's edification.
On spring break, she'll dress up in character for the regular AETN partnerships. One year she was The Cat in the Hat. Last year it was Curious George, with Lipham as The Man with the Yellow Hat, greeting a line of children that stretched out onto the street.
On Family STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Nights when groups of parents and children from schools or other groups come for after-hours play/learning time, she and other volunteers help visitors work the different exhibits and introduce them to the museum's resident animals, although she avoids the tarantula ("I held it once for, like, two seconds.") and the ferrets ("They shred your arms.").
"Pretty much wherever they need her to fill in, she fills in," her mother, Betti Rippentrop-Pridmore, explains.
"I can do pretty much anything," her daughter agrees. "Except I'm not allowed to handle money."
But her favorite, she says, is summer camp, because of the children.
"Some of the kids you get attached to because they really like you and you really like them. It's kind of sad when they don't come back the next week."
In the last four years, Rippentrop-Pridmore estimates she has only missed two volunteer activities and that was due to illness.
Once she hit 300 hours, the museum staff presented her a personalized magnetic name badge -- something usually reserved for staff members.
According to Lipham, Rippentrop-Pridmore exemplifies the Summer Volunteer Program in all its facets and is a realization of the goals the staff members set for themselves: to help young people build a resume and to help them grow in responsibility and confidence.
Lipham says he has watched the young volunteers come back during the school year and say, "Whoa, I actually can help adults? That's pretty cool!"
Rippentrop-Pridmore agrees. Her confidence is high, and why not? The museum's Summer Volunteer Program award that bears her name is The Skye Rippentrop-Pridmore Award for Confidence.
"I know I'm able to do what I do and I know I can do it well."
Another thing she has gained from her time at the museum: a future career. While she doesn't know where she wants to attend college, she knows that she wants to be a special education teacher, and she credits the museum for that.
"I've always really liked kids, but working here, I like kids more. I just like being around them and helping them."
Lipham says, "Not only has she shown a massive amount of dedication but her passion is inspiring. Everybody's day brightens up when she comes through. It's an amazing energy. To have someone who genuinely wants to be here that much is invigorating and fun to be around."
High Profile on 07/19/2015