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Behind the Scenes: Maker Educator Grace Center

By July 19, 2017No Comments

A self-proclaimed “buddy in discovery,” Grace’s catchphrase is “Dude, that’s awesome!” As a Maker Educator at KID Museum, she’s passionate about finding the “cool” in everything and encouraging kids to believe in themselves. She spends her days doing things like teaching kids how to construct pipe tunnels twice their height, and claims that working at KID has taught her many important lessons about teamwork and perseverance. “We teach kids that failure is okay and that it happens. We teach them that it is expected and an opportunity to fix things. Frustration and uncertainty exist for everyone, not just kids.”

Grace says she loves being a part of a team that supports her because she has learned how to ask for help and recognize when things aren’t working out, which is important when working towards a common goal with a team of very different people.

Grace picked up her first power drill in middle school as part of her school’s stage crew and “there was no going back.” She grew up attending nine different types of schools in five different countries. By observing so many different education systems, she discovered that trying your best and being engaged is more important than reproducing information that is taught to you on a test, something she found embedded in KID’s philosophy. She adds, “There’s a heart-driven way of teaching at KID. We care about whether kids have grit and show compassion, and there are no requirements. Personal growth is most important.”

One of Grace’s favorite things about KID is that “it expects me to be me.” Grace says that KID gives her and others the freedom to be themselves without any pressure to conform to expectations, even if that means spontaneously breaking out in tap dance. She loves that at KID, every idea and personality is supported, and there is no such thing as normal.

Julia Fox-Rabinovich

KIDfest