Liberty continues partnership with local children’s museum, impacting community youth programs

Liberty University has worked with Amazement Square, an interactive children’s museum located in historic downtown Lynchburg, Va., since its doors first opened in March 2001, and this year will mark new opportunities for Liberty students to participate in the museum’s educational and artistic endeavors.

Amazement Square is a nonprofit museum featuring four floors of interactive exhibits designed to make learning creative and fun for all ages. The museum serves more than 90,000 people each year on site and through school programs, outreach activities, workshops, and other special events.

“When I came to Lynchburg to start the museum almost 25 years ago, we wanted to create a learning experience that would be open to people of all abilities and backgrounds to learn through interaction and hands-on activity,” said Mort Sajadian, President and CEO of Amazement Square. “We wanted to create exhibit environments and educational programs that would take place either in the museum, in schools or early learning centers. Because of these programs, Amazement Square has been nationally recognized as one of the top hands-on museums in the country.”

In 2015, Amazement Square was awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest honor conferred on museums and libraries, becoming only the fourth institution and the only museum in Virginia to win the award.

Liberty students and graduates have regularly served the community through the museum’s efforts. Amazement Square currently has six Liberty alumni working on its staff as well as 14 student-interns and over 50 student volunteers. Liberty students play an important role in many of Amazement Square’s diverse programs and daily operations, helping to create and maintain the exhibits, perform education programs in local schools, and get the word out about the museum through its marketing department.

“We have always focused on how we can get our community to partner with us in the various programs or exhibits we offer, and that’s where Liberty comes into the picture,” Sajadian said. “Liberty has always been the most closely knit and supportive organization for us. Its students are some of the talented individuals who we bring on board to get job experience and work on our exhibits and programs. There are a number of exhibits in various galleries of the museum that Liberty students can say, ‘I built that, I painted that, I was a part of that,’ and we want to keep that mentoring opportunity going.”

Senior Olivia Englert, a family and child development student, is working as a development intern at Amazement Square this semester. She has also been a lead counselor for the museum’s summer camp program. Now Englert is handling and researching grants for the museum while also helping with the museum’s school outreach programs. She said the museum is dedicated to serving the Central Virginia community.

“Everyone at Amazement Square has such a big heart for helping each other and reaching out into the community, and that’s something that I’ve been very drawn to,” Englert said. “A lot of people just see it as a museum and a place to bring their kids for the day, but there is a lot of stuff that goes on that we do in our community with events and programs. I really like that it’s not just a museum, we give back and pour into the local community too.”

Joshua Poindexter (’16) began his time with Amazement Square as a volunteer in 2008, through Liberty’s CSER (Christian/Community Service) program and worked at one of the exhibits every Saturday. He said his time as a volunteer helped him grow personally. He is now a floor manager and visitor experience supervisor.

“When I first started there, I was pretty quiet and laid back, but then over time as I started to engage with the guests and engage particularly with the kids, they began to open me up,” Poindexter said. “I would hear from some of the other staff that after some kids would play with me one week, the next week they would come back and be looking for me and wanting to play again. It helped me realize that I was doing more than just working somewhere; I was actually making an impact. That’s what led me to apply to be on staff, and it’s been 13 years since.”

Poindexter said that Amazement Square and Liberty both make constant efforts to engage the community and share their goals, and it’s through that commonality that the two organizations have had a longstanding relationship.

“Liberty focuses on Training Champions for Christ, and that also means wanting to build relationships and connections,” he said. “Our goal here is to make connections with families to educate their kids in a fun way. I think the fact that we as staff are able to make connections in the community and see Liberty do the same, I think that’s what has brought and kept the two together.”

Senior criminal justice student Tyler Myers has been a CSER volunteer for three semesters, first working behind-the-scenes with the operations team and later as an exhibit educator. Myers said his favorite exhibit features a model of Lynchburg with batteaux that children can float along the James River.

“It’s so fun to see how excited the kids get when they play with the boats in the river and see the rain fall on the model of Lynchburg. It’s a good way to get them involved with the history of Lynchburg. And it’s fun to be a part of their team that works so hard to give kids knowledge in a fun way that you can’t really find anywhere else.”

Announced this month, Liberty University has donated $60,000 to support the new Amazement Square-Liberty University (A²LU) Internship Program, a three-year initiative to give current Liberty students more opportunities to be mentored by museum staff, gain experience in a professional setting, and participate in creative and educational experiences for children and families in Central Virginia and beyond.

The A²LU Internship Program will also open doors for the museum to partner with Liberty’s School of Education and other university departments to expand and develop more student learning and service opportunities.