Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophie Wasserman.
Sophie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I absolutely love my job, but Education Director for the San Diego Air & Space Museum is not anywhere close to what I thought I wanted to be. I left college convinced that I was going to become an animal behavioral researcher, and spent a year studying elephant intelligence in Thailand. It was an incredible experience; I learned that I thrive in challenging situations, that I value collaboration and creativity, and that I am always down to get messy (which is helpful when you spend your days with three-ton mud machines). Most importantly, I started to figure out that while I enjoyed research, my real passion was in getting other people excited about science.
When I returned to the States, I worked for a whale-watching a boat, a major newspaper, and a few museums before finding my place at Air & Space. I’ve swapped elephants and whales for much smaller mammals, but it turns out human children are really good at making a big mess too. Every day, I work with my incredibly talented team to spark the imagination and curiosity of our next generation, and I am so lucky to have found a career where I am constantly learning, growing, and feeling fulfilled.
Has it been a smooth road?
Honestly, the hardest thing I’ve had to learn is to embrace mistakes. We see it in our classrooms every day: students will be so afraid of messing up that they won’t even try something new, or so ashamed of themselves for not being instantly successful that they now see themselves a complete failure. On paper, I’m teaching Newton’s laws of motion, but in reality, a lot of my instructional time is spent empowering students to solve their own problems and understand that they haven’t “failed,” they have just found a way that didn’t work.
One day, it hit me that I wasn’t practicing what I was preaching. That I wasn’t taking many risks in my professional or personal life because I was too afraid of “failing.” It’s something I have been working on ever since, and still sometimes struggle with.
What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
As the Education Director of the Air & Space Museum, I have the privilege of overseeing all of our school and public programming.
For schools, we offer hands-on workshops and engineering challenges to enhance field trips to the museum, as well as outreach programs which we can bring directly to the school’s site. I’m really excited this year to launch our portable planetarium program! Our StarLab system is an immersive exploration of the galaxy in a giant inflatable dome that we can take to any large, indoor space so that students have to opportunity to experience the solar system in a way they never have before.
For the public, we have our Little Engineers preschool program for parents and children on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, as well as monthly Family Days, which include free hands-on activities with admission. We also have an annual middle school engineering competition called Fly Your Ride, where students compete to launch flying cars off of a giant ramp for cash prizes, as well as Private Pilot Ground School, for teens and adults who are interested in taking the first steps to learn to fly.
What advice would you give to someone at the start of her career?
Talk to people. Talk to LOTS of people. Connections are invaluable and don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions. Understand that not every person can or will be helpful, but at the very least you usually hear a great story or make a new friend.
Contact Info:
- Address: San Diego Air & Space Museum
2001 Pan American Plaza
San Diego, CA 92101 - Website: http://sandiegoairandspace.org/
- Phone: 619-234-8291
- Email: education@sdasm.org
Image Credit:
Christine Tilton
Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
