Special Programs & Events

Youth Program History

Established as the Lab Rat program in 1989 with two teenage volunteers in the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, the Cincinnati Museum Center Youth Program has expanded from a simple youth volunteerism outlet into a successful youth development program.

In 1993, the YouthALIVE! Initiative (Youth Achievement through Learning, Involvement, Volunteering, and Employment) was established in Museum Center LabRat program. The initiative, supported by the DeWitt-Wallace Reader's Digest Fund from 1992-2002, was designed to increase the capacity of science centers and museums to develop programs for and with adolescents, and to enhance the ability of museum staff to work with youth. The YouthALIVE! program offers extra opportunities to develop work skills, to explore career and college options, and to improve academic achievement through a series of activities including youth-program design and implementation, staff training, community partnerships, adolescent development and diversity.

By 1997 the youth development facet was completely integrated into the program at Cincinnati Museum Center. The 1997 Lab Rat Program Data Report said: “YouthALIVE! at Museum Center is unique because the students receive relevant science and museum training through our Lab Rat program, and they receive the other tools for success through special field trips and seminars. Each month of the YouthAlive! program has a different theme of focus which enables students to develop a number of skills including leadership skills, group interaction skills, internet/WWW training, conflict resolution training, and college/career development.”

Since 1997, youth development has been the focus of Cincinnati Museum Center's Youth Program. Every activity, trip and interaction is in someway supplementing the ideas encompassed in the Positive Youth Development theory.