They took over the roles of project manager, curator, events and social media managers on Friday last week and were then given tasks by the museum staff which related to their job and they had a day to complete them.
Takeover days are an annual event that invites young people to take on adult roles at heritage and cultural sites.
Tayla Brown and Casey Brooks, both 16, were the events managers and they were given the brief to create and run an event for the museum and came up with a scavenger hunt around the building in Mill Meadows.
Tayla said: “We were given free rein to do whatever we wanted and we came up with the idea of a scavenger hunt because we thought it would cater to the widest range of people.
“We also chose it because it was a way for people to go through the museum and see everything. We were trying to get the museum more publicity.
“I feel I have learnt a lot about work and everyone here whom we spoke to was so helpful and showed us the best way to do the role. They said that while it might be stressful, the end product is worth it.
“We came in the morning and were given a detailed tour around the museum and we took notes on where we thought would be a good place to put the scavenger hunt points. Then we worked together on making the prompts. Casey mostly did the writing and I did the graphics.
“I have found it so enjoyable; it was amazing. I really enjoyed making the prompts and I was so locked in and ended up working on it for three hours. When I looked at a clock I didn’t realise how long I had been working and three hours had just gone.”
It was the pair’s first time at the museum where they learnt about the town and rowing.
Tayla said: “When we were creating the hunt we had to take into account the people who would be doing it and catering to them and what we thought they would enjoy.
“So we had to think about where we would put the prompts, if that is up high or low and what sort of language would be appropriate. I think it went really well.”
Casey said: “I have not really done anything like this before so it was a new experience for both of us but I found it really enjoyable.”
Meri Kahn, 16, Oscar Solomon, 17, and Iona Forbes, 16, were on the curation team.
They created a tour around the museum, which they then gave to teachers from the college and employees at the museum.
Meri said: “First of all, Cate Tren, the museum’s curator, took us through a very detailed tour of the museum where she told us what our tasks would be. This was where we had a look for ourselves and decided what the theme for our tour was going to be and began researching the history to make sure the tour was a success.
“It was a new experience for us and it was fantastic that the college takes part in it. The collections and archives are amazing and the fact that we got to touch artefacts — with gloves on — was incredible.
“We saw all the different aspects that go into running the museum and it is so much more than you realise. You think the museum is just about history but it is so much more than that with everything that comes together to make the experience.”
Oscar said: “Our theme was the history of Henley and key individuals. We chose pieces of Henley history that we thought was most interesting for the tour.”
Iona said: “Part of the experience that we got was looking at the archives and how they store the objects and how they handle them and we got to handle some objects ourselves. It was a unique experience and very cool.
“It has given us an opportunity to learn about the roles and work experience. There is a difference between looking at historical things and being able to engage with them and touching them with your hands.”
Toyin Adewuyi, 17, was the social media manager and studies IT at the college. Part of her job was to create promotional material for the museum.
Some of her ideas included making your own Christmas jumper, a Santa’s grotto with Mr Toad, biscuit decorating and a storytime. She also came up with a strategy to advertise a new space art talk.
Toyin said: “I recorded a video to put up on social media of the event that will be coming up in the museum. I haven’t done something like this before, so it has been really good.”
Kemi Coker, 16, and Aidan Small, 19, were project managers and created a presentation to summarise the day and helped create some of the social media content.
Kemi said: “As a project manager I have been managing the team as a whole and creating a presentation. We organised ourselves into different teams and Toyin came up with elaborate social media marketing strategies to help promote a family Christmas event at the museum.”
Aidan said: “We have been gaining experience in multiple career areas and have had a great day.”
Steve O’Connor, the museum’s director, gave goodie bags to the students to thank them for taking part in the day.
He said: “Thank you very much, it has been a real pleasure having you all in here today. I hope you have learnt lots and you have seen that a museum has a lot of different parts to it and it takes a really big team of people to make this thing work.”
Ty Sterry, who is the head of sports and careers at the college, said: “We were invited by the museum to take part in the national student takeover day and what that does is it gives our students the opportunity to experience what a role would look like in the museum.
“That could be curation, social media, project management, event, we did this last year as well. It is a really valuable tool for young people to get valuable experience in the world of work.”
