AD: Yes, and we always need more docents in order to implement our programs. I have worked very hard to increase the size of our docent staff. I've been amazed to discover how much talent exists right here in our own community. And I'm excited to say that we have recruited our first male docent this year. We hope this is the beginning of a trend.

MD: Several times each week I see these docents in the galleries with groups of school children. I know that more than a 1000 elementary- and middle-school students have visited the museum so far this year. What is the program that your docent staff is working on currently?

AD: This program focuses on daily life in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, taking advantage of particularly strong components of the museum's collection and objects that are on view on a regular basis. The lesson plan aims to enhance our understanding of why these objects were created, not as art per se, in many cases, but rather to be utilized in daily life. To make all of this more meaningful, we then encourage students to think about objects they encounter in their own lives that might be found in a museum of the future.

We then take it a step further by bringing the three cultures together in a skit, written by three of the docents. The skit takes characters from each of the three cultures. We dress students in costumes that simulate what people would have worn in ancient times and place them in front of backdrops decorated with scenes representing Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It's a lot of fun and has been very popular.

MD: Let's back up and talk about the first segment of this program. I think you and I are in agreement about the inherent limitations of the one-time museum visit for school children. We have discussed various ways to maximize the students' experience by preparing them for their tour in the classical galleries or of a special exhibition. I'm very enthusiastic about our in-class program because it involves members of the college community.

AD: Yes, Mount Holyoke students who have participated in a series of training sessions go into area classrooms to introduce some of the themes and ideas related to what the school children will see at the art museum. The docents have found that this preparation helps them to a lead a more effective tour in the galleries--students are much more attentive, they have some idea of what they will see, and they become very excited when they actually come face to face with something they've heard about.

MD: And I think it's important to point out that a Mount Holyoke student designed the in-class lesson plan.

AD: Melissa Morse, who was a senior in the education department last year, worked out a program that focuses on archaeology. The students discuss where archaeologists find things and why we care. Students also do their own dig, in buckets of kitty litter, where we've hidden a variety of objects including a piece of pottery that might have been centuries old to a Styrofoam cup that another archaeologist may have discarded only a few weeks before.

MD: In addition to this ongoing program, we select one special exhibition each year around which we develop a program, designed according to the three-part model that has proven to be so successful here: the in-class component, which you have described, the museum visit, and follow-up projects for the teachers to use after their class has visited the museum.

AD: This past fall, for example, another Mount Holyoke student, Mary Grassetti, developed the in-class lesson plan for the exhibition How to Remember? Designing the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. That program was very popular with area schools.

MD: How to Remember? also attracted an unusual number of adults. Our docents provided tours for groups from this area and from as far away as Boston, Worcester, and New Haven. I hope we'll continue to see increasing numbers of adult groups while we also continue to refine our program for school groups.