21st Century Teens at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Since 2012, Brooklyn Historical Society has partnered with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92 to lead “Teen Innovators at BLDG 92”, an afterschool program serving local high school students (Check out their Tumblr of their experiences). The students come from nearby high schools and in the fall, visit tenants in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and conduct research projects under the direction of BHS museum educators. In the spring, through a generous grant from the Pinkerton Foundation and the support of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, the Teen Innovators will be placed in paid internships in Yard businesses. Here Heather Flanagan, School Programs Educator at BHS & BLDG 92, reflects on the fall portion of the program.

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The Teen Innovators get a tour of New Lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

For many Brooklyn residents, the Brooklyn Navy Yard is something only glimpsed through weedy tangles.  With a view mediated by morning glories, bittersweet, and ivy, it’s easy to assume that behind those fences lies a vast acreage of abandoned and crumbling post-industrial infrastructure.

Instead, you’ll find 330 businesses and over 7,000 people making television shows and movies, solar and wind powered street lamps, steam heat, Cradle to Cradle-certified recycled glass and concrete countertops, body armor, 3D printed grow houses, and thousands of other creations.  Far from abandoned, the Brooklyn Navy Yard is defining what it means to be a sustainable industrial park and has a waiting list for prospective tenants.  And for the group of high school juniors and seniors in Brooklyn Historical Society’s Teen Innovators program, these businesses offer a chance to explore a wide range of career paths through paid internships.

Lucky for me, I got to join them!  The public’s gateway to the Brooklyn Navy Yard is the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, which houses, among other things, an employment center and galleries that tell the story of the Yard’s history of innovation.  I’ve been guiding school tours there since September, so when I was asked to assist with Teen Innovators, I was excited to explore the world within the Navy Yard’s gates alongside the teens.

A few sessions in, and I was completely blown away by the students and the sense of community they’d already established (thanks in no small part to the mentors who’d graduated the program the year before, and were back to take on a leadership role with this year’s group).  We strove to create an atmosphere where our kids felt comfortable and supported enough to enjoy taking on intimidating tasks like questioning executives about their job history or contacting professionals in their field of interest for an informational interview.

On every site visit, the students impressed owners and CEO’s with their thoughtful questions, thorough research of their respective companies, and how well they presented themselves.  The culminating project was a series of debates on World War II era issues, and I was so inspired to see the kids deliver impassioned, well-researched arguments that set the audience gasping and applauding.  I’m thrilled that the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation found a way to give each of the students a paid internship, and I can’t wait to see what all of the Teen Innovators do next!