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by Ariel Simmons, submitted to Sarah Lawrence and Hampshire College
My education began formally, with lunch boxes and purple ditto
sheets. I was set free when I was seven -- not just from the school building, but from the notion that I could learn only what was given me to learn, when the powers-that-were deemed I should learn it. Since then, I
have been the power-that-is, designing my schooling around my own interests. (The audience is much more receptive this way). That's not to say I've avoided subjects crucial to a well-rounded education, but if I wanted
to spend six months studying the Arthurian cycle, I did; and if I wanted to race through algebra as fast as my calculator could compute, I did that, too. I did not take tests, I did not receive grades, I did not whittle
down what I was studying until it fit into a traditional subject offered in high school.
Most colleges use high school transcripts to see what prospective students have been doing the last four years of their
lives. Here is what I've been doing:
As a volunteer for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, I worked initially in areas normally staffed by teens, but quickly moved to temporary-exhibit galleries, where
touring exhibits from across the nation are featured. I've been involved in several special projects, including building exhibits for area libraries. I co-chaired the advisory committee, which oversees and guides the
teen volunteer program. I also served on the activity committee, where I helped put together museum tours (Fort Worth has a unique concentration of museums, with four in a one mile radius), lock-ins, and trips to
Shakespeare in the Park. Though I am now a graduate of the program, I still attend meetings as an advisor, and am a member of an alumni group which mentors younger volunteers and works to produce special programs.
I interned in the museum's History Department for over two years, primarily in the archives. It's hard to describe my duties there, as they changed from week to week. During my internship, I did everything from
identifying and cataloging ancient human remains to restoring a robe with a 14-foot train worn by the Fort Worth Rodeo Queen in 1926.
In April 1995, I joined the Science Club, one of the oldest programs at the
museum. Though I was interested in science, I was probably more interested in evening the sexes. (The club was almost exclusively male when I joined. Now the male to female ratio is about 1:1, though sometimes heavy on
the female side.) Science Club has been a wild, wacky experience, and I doubt I could make a short list that would describe my activities there with any accuracy. In brief, we've adventured all over Texas, done endless
projects for the preschool (the museum has the largest museum-run preschool in the country), and collected a whole lot of road kill. I am currently Trip Coordinator and Vice President.
Which nearly sums up my
work at the museum, but not quite. I am now employed there, working in KidSpace (learning through creative play) and DinoDig (a reproduction of a local dinosaur excavation where children can "discover"
fossilized bones).
My second internship has been with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, working for the on-line paper, Star-Text. Though one of the oldest on-line newspapers in the nation, it was only last year that
we moved from a text-based system to a graphic one with Internet access. Since then, my primary job has been web page design and creation. When we first launched our Internet service, we offered free websites for every
local non-profit, as a community service. Obviously we had no idea how many organizations would fit the bill. A year later we're still working hard to get everyone on-line. I've contributed to, or built, many
high-profile websites for local institutions, including the Van Cliburn Foundation and several of our art museums.
It was through Star-Text that I began working with New Directions for News, a think-tank based in
Columbia, Missouri, that organizes workshops for newspaper editors and journalists nationwide. In November 1995, I was invited to speak at one of their conferences about the future of information and technology. I was
asked back in 1996, and served on an NDN panel for the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, speaking again about the direction news is taking and the role technology will play. The opportunity to attend
these events was priceless. Attending the lectures and participating in the workshops was much more valuable than the contacts I made, though they, too, are sure to serve me throughout my life.
Meanwhile, I took
theater classes (Shakespeare, Commedia dell'Arte, and Greek tragedy studies) and performed in several productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. My behind-the-scenes work
includes properties management and soundboard operation.
I also worked with my father this summer in his furniture shop. Though I'd collaborated with him often on furniture designs and drawn many of the projected
finished pieces for customers, I'd never been a part of the actual production before. My months with him were mind-expanding and helped me develop a concept of art in multiple dimensions.
. . . And everyone said I'd be missing so much if I didn't attend high school.
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