Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center educators Kmbris Bond, left, and Tracy Trotter begin a virtual field trip with excited gestures last May in the museum's apple industry exhibit. They are beginning three days of sessions with Sunnyslope Elementary School's third grade classes. Many students are beginning to tour the museum in person, though some are still learning through virtual experiences.
With notes about their Native American presentation at left, Tracy Trotter and Kmbris Bond prepare to make a presentation to Sunnyslope Elementary third graders at the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center.
Kmbris Bond shows students of Sunnyslope Elementary School tools used by a local Native American tribe during a virtual field trip at the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center last May.
Kmbris Bond holds up Native American tools to a webcam, allowing students at Sunnyslope Elementary School to see up close the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center's exhibit.
Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center educators Kmbris Bond, left, and Tracy Trotter begin a virtual field trip with excited gestures last May in the museum's apple industry exhibit. They are beginning three days of sessions with Sunnyslope Elementary School's third grade classes. Many students are beginning to tour the museum in person, though some are still learning through virtual experiences.
With notes about their Native American presentation at left, Tracy Trotter and Kmbris Bond prepare to make a presentation to Sunnyslope Elementary third graders at the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center.
Kmbris Bond shows students of Sunnyslope Elementary School tools used by a local Native American tribe during a virtual field trip at the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center last May.
Kmbris Bond holds up Native American tools to a webcam, allowing students at Sunnyslope Elementary School to see up close the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center's exhibit.
WENATCHEE — Most people have gone back to their daily lives, going into stores, restaurants and big events without masks or other COVID-19 protocols now that the worst of the pandemic seems to be behind us.
Reports of ICUs filled with COVID patients and the ensuing deaths after every wave have diminished. Still, some places continue to hang on to some COVID policies, finding an upside to the new tools developed after two-plus years of the pandemic.
Tracy Trotter and the staff at Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center have been taking their programs to the virtual realm to reach a larger audience.
Third-graders from the Sunnyslope Elementary School learned about the culture and traditions of the Wenatchi people from their classrooms last spring.
The pandemic originally forced the museum's programs online, but the experience showed virtual programs can reach a broader audience, according to Trotter.
"In-person always has a certain engagement that we enjoy and is special for children, youth and adults as well, but when it costs too much to bus, or time constraints don’t allow for distant travel, virtual tours allow us to engage with classrooms hours away," said Trotter in an email.
How long that will last remains to be seen. The face coverings remain optional at both the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center and NCW Libraries. Long-term, though, the ability to connect remotely and in smaller groups might have staying power since it can help make connections that wouldn't be made otherwise, even if it's not perfect.
"Technology has its 'glitches,' but we enjoy the theatrical engagement with the students," said Trotter last spring.
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