Photo By Melissa Buckley | In celebration of the Month of the Military Child, the Night at the Museum events gets...... read more read more
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — It’s a Month of the Military Child event that has teenagers racing to spend a night within the walls of the John B. Mahaffey Museum Complex, surrounded by artifacts from the three regiments that call Fort Leonard Wood home.
The Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation lock-in, held April 11 for children in sixth to 12th grades, was the second Night at the Museum event hosted at Fort Leonard Wood’s Army museum, said Bridget Plummer, school liaison officer for MWR’s Child and Youth Services Division. This year’s event, she said, was created especially with teenagers in mind.
The U.S. Army Engineer, Military Police and Chemical corps — each have their regiment’s history in a section of the complex.
“I knew this year was going to be an MP theme. I started meeting with youth staff, museum directors and marketing back in December. I told them I wanted a crime to solve that had ties to museum gallery displays,” Plummer said.
Amanda Webb, MP Corps Regimental Museum curator, said the museum staff was excited MWR was organizing this event again this year.
“While our primary mission at the museum complex is to educate Soldiers, we … also remember that as a museum our role is to act as a community hub, a place to foster learning and build relationships within the military and surrounding civilian communities,” Webb said. “The MP Museum was excited to be able to provide the true-life event the game was based on.”
Plummer separated about 60 military children into three teams, each representing a different regiment.
The teams were given the mission of finding the von Hessen family’s stolen jewels that had been dismantled or sold. The groups were given tips and had to work together to complete 24 tasks to earn jewels to reassemble the jewelry and clues to solve the mystery.
“The team spirit was my favorite — to see teens get excited about a task and jumping up and down to volunteer to go complete it. I love seeing teens that don’t normally interact, work together for a common goal,” Plummer said. “It’s such a valuable skill to be able to collaborate successfully.”
Webb said it was “fun to watch the enthusiasm and tension build as the evening progressed. We could witness the teams grow more and more excited as each clue was discovered and they got closer to identifying the suspects for the crime.”
Sixteen-year-old Emily Babcock, said she had so much fun at last year’s event, she was excited to be able to participate again this year.
“I like hanging out with my friends from the Pippin Youth Center and making new friends while we collaborate to win challenges. It is a nice opportunity to meet military kids from other grades. I enjoy seeing the younger kids, the sixth graders, come out of their shells and get involved in the action,” Babcock said. “It is a fun way to research history and discover new facts we need to know to complete tasks.”
In addition to the mission at the museum, the teens were treated to pizza at the Daugherty Bowling Center, gym activities at Davidson Fitness Center and snacks, games and movies in the museum’s Engineer Regimental Room.
| Date Taken: | 04.17.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.18.2025 09:04 |
| Story ID: | 495644 |
| Location: | FORT LEONARD WOOD, MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 25 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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