Congratulations to this year's Volunteer and Intern of the Year winners!
On April 3, 2019, 350 volunteers, guests, educational partners, and staff members attended LSC’s 26th Annual Volunteer Recognition Dinner in celebration of the volunteers and interns who make the Science Center such a special place!
This past year, LSC had a total of 544 volunteers and interns who donated a collective 50,011 hours.
The theme of the evening was Bollywood Bash. Dance students from Gomathi Manoj in Hackensack performed a classical Indian dance from the Bharatanatyam genre to kick off the event.
The dance was followed by remarks from LSC President and CEO Paul Hoffman, LSC Chief Operating Officer Jeff Sasson, and Director of Volunteer Development Juliann Muller.
The awards ceremony continued with our Volunteer and Intern of the Year awards. Named after the founder of LSC’s volunteer program, the Patrice Connolly Memorial Award is awarded to volunteers that go above and beyond the call of duty and generously donate their time to LSC.
This year, two people received the Volunteer of the Year award: Jeff Morrison and Noah Johnson.
Jeff Morrison began volunteering in 1996 as a consultant to LSC’s Energy Quest exhibition. He has now volunteered with LSC for 22 years, and in addition to Energy Quest, now shares his expertise with eager young minds in LSC’s Eat and Be Eaten exhibition.
Our second winner, Noah Johnson has volunteered with LSC since 2017. During his time at LSC, Noah has developed new activities, engaged guests, and created new programming for LSC’s Weston Family Lab for Earth and Space Exploration. He has also performed research on how to improve the guest experience within LSC’s theaters.
Caroline Nowak was the recipient of this year’s Intern of the Year award. A biomedical engineering student at Rutgers, Caroline has interned with LSC since 2018. She took the lead on LSC’s second annual Engineering Everywhere event and developed multiple new programs in topics related to 3D-printed prosthetics and aircraft testing. She has also assisted with many of LSC’s late-night astronomy events.
After the award ceremony, the evening ended with Indian-inspired food, henna tattoo artists, a photo booth, and raffle prizes.
Volunteers play a crucial role in LSC’s success and achieving our mission to get learners of all ages excited about the power, promise, and pure fun of science and technology. We could not open our doors without them, and for that, we thank them!
Click here to learn more about LSC’s volunteer program, and how you can apply to be a volunteer or intern.
