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12:00pm - 5:00pm There’s always more to discover!
Each day, our staff members go above and beyond to create an educational and inspiring environment for our museum visitors. Pedro Valles-Cano, one of our valued Educators, has done just this throughout his career at The Discovery.
For the past three years, Pedro has worked as an Educator at The Discovery, facilitating live science demonstrations, supervising staff, and bringing smiles to families’ faces each day. Not only do his contributions help keep the operations on the museum floor running smoothly, but he gets to have a direct impact on each visitor’s day.
“My favorite part of working at The Discovery is interacting with the people. The people make my day here. I love getting to interact with the kids and parents, hearing that they came from California, and listening to their stories—the best part is watching them enjoy their day.”
Outside of The Discovery, Pedro juggles a rigorous class schedule as a nursing student at TMCC. In his first year of classes at UNR, he was hired at The Discovery through the TRIO Scholars Program, a program dedicated to helping first generation college students overcome socio-economic barriers in education.
True to the value of science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) initiatives at The Discovery, Pedro’s position has offered him the perfect blend of science and communication skills to help further his career in nursing. Describing himself as once reserved, Pedro now supervises staff on the museum floor, ensuring that all operations run smoothly. He contributes his advancement to the encouragement and feedback he gets from museum staff and managers. Progressing from an Educator to an Educator II has allowed him to hone leadership and communication skills that he never knew he had.
“Doing science demos has made me more confident because each experiment is different, and I’m doing things I never thought I’d do,” Pedro said when describing his experience at the museum.
For a nursing student, The Discovery resembles an interactive playground where individuals can experiment and learn about science in a hands-on way. For example, Inside Out: an Anatomy Experience, an exhibition that takes visitors on a journey through human anatomy, is directly related to the biology courses that Pedro took during his freshman year of college. Inside Out has presented a fun, engaging way to incorporate his studies into a job that helps educate the community about science and instill curiosity in visitors.
Finding the time to study while working presents Pedro with a challenge, but The Discovery provides the flexibility and support that students need to succeed. Pedro has enjoyed gaining not only real-world skills, but receiving mentorship and guidance from his staff and managers. “The staff here have connected me with activities in the community and are very supportive of our education and busy schedules,” Pedro said.
Whether it’s helping to make connections in the community, recommending areas for improvement, or presenting opportunities for advancement, The Discovery takes pride in developing and growing its staff to have impactful and meaningful careers in their desired field.
Set to graduate in spring of 2018, Pedro hopes to take the many lessons he has learned at The Discovery into his nursing career. According to Pedro, “Nursing is about caring. You have to interact with patients and families, and connect with them on a human level.” On the same spectrum, The Discovery is also about caring. You have to communicate with children and their families, problem-solve, and stay calm during different and sometimes difficult situations. These are all skills that will transfer well in the medical field as Pedro sets out to make an impact on the world.