Month at the Museum

The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago announced its experiment, "Month at the Museum", over the summer. One person would be chosen to live at MSI from October 20 to November 18. Applicants had to submit a video, photo, essay and application to be in the running.

More than 1,500 applications were received. Fewer than 20 semi-finalists went through phone interviews, leading to a smaller group for face-to-face interviews and an online vote. Kate McGroarty was introduced as the winner. McGroarty gets free roam of MSI 24/7 for a month—she gets to “eat and sleep science”—and, after her stay there, she gets $10,000.

McGroarty also gets an office and private sleeping quarters designed by CB2, catered meals and a technology package. She has 30 “Month at the Museum” t-shirts to wear. Each day, Kate uploads pictures and YouTube videos, writes blog posts and updates Facebook and Twitter to tell everyone about her experience.

Rob Gallas, MSI vice president and chief marketing officer, comments on the experiment:

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime, ultimate hands-on learning experience. We hear so often from guests that a single visit here changed their lives. We’re curious to find out what spending an entire month here can do. [Kate] will have full run of the Museum and will be free to go places and do things nobody has done before, like sleep in the U-505 submarine or 727 jet, or maybe lay back in the human-sized hamster wheel.