This year, our flagship signature program Junior Curator celebrates 75 monumental years of providing immersive hands-on farming experience to our community's children.
As we celebrate this milestone, we reflect upon the indelible impacts our program has made across generations. Beyond instilling core experiential knowledge of agricultural science at an early age, Junior Curator has profoundly and actively shaped the life-long passions, distinguished career paths, and cherished memories of countless SM&NC program alumni since 1949.
My dad’s name was Horace Bushnell. When we lived there (SM&NC), there were farm animals plus different North American animals including buffalo, sea lions, eagles, and much more. We even had a large herd of deer. My dad was responsible for much of the growth of the zoo/farm area. And, he began the Junior Curator program. For the 12 years he worked there, I lived a magical life."
Magnolia Bushnell-Alexander
reflects upon her father's legacy
Ed grew up in Connecticut and spent most of his time in nature and riding his horse. At the age of 10 he became a Junior Curator at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center getting to work on a farm with animals and bringing lots of wild critters home on the weekends."
Ed Barosky's formal Trustee bio
for Tin Mountain Conservation Center BEGINS WITH HIS Junior curator roots
Skip’s passion for animals when he was growing up led him to becoming a Junior Curator at the Stamford Museum."
Louis “Skip” DeBaradinis' Obituary
MEMORIALIZED junior curator's lasting influence in his life
My passion for the natural world was first applied at Stamford Museum & Nature Center, where I volunteered as a Junior Curator performing farm animal care. Volunteering ever since, my awareness of the environment and the risks posed to our planet increased."
National Merit Scholarship recipient
Catherine Campbell's eco-aspirations were ignited as a JUNIOR CURATOR
Raised in Stamford CT, Eric Seplowitz credits his Junior Curator experience at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center with sparking his interest in nature, outdoor education, and later photography. As a trained geologist, Eric turned his attention to rocks and minerals 5 years ago and created a body of work called UnEarthed, which is featured in An Uncommon Planet."
geologist & photographer ERIC SEPLOWITZ
credits junior curator AS the origin of HIS LIFE'S WORK aND FLINN GALLERY EXHIBITION
One of the most popular classes for children is the ''Junior Curator'' course which teaches farm management and lets participants feed and care for animals on Heckscher Farm."
junior curator praised in 1984
by the new york times