Kevin Orangers: Moveable Museum Program Manager Department of Education

For ten years, Kevin Orangers has filled a unique and challenging role as an educator, planner, and administrator for the Moveable Museums, an educational outreach program that brings the science of the Museum into the community in retrofired recreational vehicles. The fleet currently includes Paleontology of Dinosaurs, Structures and Culture (anthropology), and Discovering the Universe (astronomy), and a fourth, on current technology in dinosaur research, is on the way. Each vehicle visits three to four classrooms every school day, with up to 200 kids learning from an in-class introduction followed by an interactive tour onboard the Moveable.

Kevin works on everything from the design of each new exhibition to the development of teachers' resource guides. While his degree in physical anthropology plays a role in conceptualizing the exhibitions, his instinct as a mechanic has also proved invaluable in keeping the Moveables on the road. When he's not tending to the Museum's vehicles, he is toiling over a 1950 Harley Davidson Panhead that lays in pieces, waiting for fabrication and reassembly.

In addition to the technical challenges and excitement of literally creating an exhibition-to-go, Kevin admits that the best part of the job is working in the classroom. "The response you get from the kids all over the city--that's the part of the job that makes you want to come to work every day."

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