The National Building Museum welcomes visitors to The Big Build
WASHINGTON - The Big Build—a one-of-a kind event, is back at the National Building Museum for a day of fun.
Visitors— most of whom were kids, got to unleash their inner builder and experience the thrill of donning a hard hat, wielding a hammer, and drilling like a pro.
FOX 5’s Ayesha Khan is in Northwest with an inside look, on the hands-on, STEM-focused community day— for all ages.
The National Building Museum was buzzing with excitement as thousands of children and their families from all over the D.C. region, got to learn about various trades and how building, contributes to improving communities.
"This is sometimes a forgotten profession and I think workforce development in the construction industry is really important so to encourage children to be things like an architect, construction workers, plant operators, electricians, technicians is really important," Salim Bhabhrawala said.
Participants most of them kids, took part in dozens of different interactive stations.
Many of those activities were presented by contractors, plumbers, electricians, ironworkers, and carpenters, who helped the young minds explore and learn about their careers, skills and hobbies.
"The big message here is to make sure that we are able to provide a positive impact on the community and just help motivate stimulate the mind," Javier Lopez said.
I think they’re probably going to like the VR the most just because it’s like a new system, and it’s a cool game, but it shows them part of what we do in the field and what we do in the real world. Today we have a taping activity and a painting activity that shows them some of the tools that they would be using in those trades," said Isabella Ruesing, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.
Some of the hands-on experiences included a nail-driving contest and structural engineering station with an earthquake simulation to discover how buildings can be built to be more stable.
"We should all be a part of the built environment because sometimes people think it just pops up out of nowhere, but we can all contribute to making a better built world so that is really our bigger message here," said Cathy Frankel, Deputy Director for Interpretive Content.
In addition to the immersive activities The Outside of the Museum was also transformed into a "Petting Zoo" filled with construction equipment and Heavy machinery including a crane-open for exploration.
Parents and grandparents along with those in their respective building and design trades, made sure that the younger visitors were inspired by exploring a world where they can perhaps find their own place —within.
"I’m a teacher and I just want them to be exposed to so many different things whether that happens to be outdoors, so I want him to be exposed to so many things to expand his knowledge and expand his experiences."
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