NEWS ITEMS
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 19, 2022
CMoA Partners with Eaton Academy LEAP Program
Roswell Private School Helps Local Museum While Teaching Real World Job Skills
ROSWELL, Ga. (OCTOBER 19, 2022) – Computer Museum of America (CMoA) is a technology museum where visitors enjoy exploring the exhibits, which include The STEAM Timeline, A Tribute to Apollo, Supercomputers, a fully refurbished Enigma Machine, the BYTE Magazine Wall, and more. The museum has a recurring schedule of events and programs for visitors during regular open hours, including a monthly Punchcard demo, Tech Tales: Storytime for Young Explorers, typewriter demos, recycling drives, and more. In addition to the exhibits and recurring events, CMoA is also an event venue where event space can be rented for a variety of events and meetings, from Bar Mitzvahs, celebrations, rehearsal dinners, and all kinds of training, corporate and fundraising events from 10 to 400 guests. CMoA also hosts several public events each year – Bytes & Brews: A Museum After Hours event and our annual fundraiser BYTE.
CMoA is grateful for volunteers that help with the behind the scenes work in addition to guiding visitors through the exhibits. Recently, a relationship was formed with Eaton Academy, a Roswell-based private school. Grey Eaton, an instructor at the school, leads a class in the LEAP Program, on furniture repair for potential future employment and transferable life skills. The LEAP Program is an innovative program designed for individuals who want to benefit from job readiness training, life skill development, and extensive social skill instruction. The goal of this program is to produce independent young adults by helping them improve their job-related, social/emotional, and communications skills.
The students built two pedestals for two artifacts recently added to the exhibits. The pedestals are very professionally made, and the students were beaming with pride when they dropped them off. Unrelated to exhibits, with all the events and activities, there is always something needing attention at CMoA. Elaine Pelaia, Director of Museum Operations, identified a few things that needed some TLC, and shared them with Mr. Eaton. Excited to take these projects on and use them as real-life experiences in his classes, Mr. Eaton and Ms. Pelaia worked together to prioritize a list of projects.
The first project was the built-in display cabinets at the museum’s main entrance. They were missing all the shelves and looked so bad they were kept hidden. After seven weeks, the cabinets look brand new and display gift shop merchandise and literature. Working both onsite at CMoA, and in the shop at Eaton Academy, the students took the cabinets apart, repaired and refinished the wood, cut 25 brand new trapezoid shaped shelves, fixed the glass from moving around on the doors, and completely transformed the display cases. While at the museum, the area was treated like a job site and the students experienced loading in materials and tools, setting up, cleaning up, and safety lessons.
CMoA is so grateful for what the students did, and now proudly shows off the cases to visitors. We appreciate Mr. Eaton and his students for their contributions and are thrilled to work with Eaton Academy LEAP Program students on the next project.
A video of the project’s progress can be viewed on the CMoA YouTube channel.
About Computer Museum of America
CMoA has worked with educational institutions, museums, and film companies with technology-related exhibits and artifacts including the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Smithsonian Institution and is committed to the preservation of computing devices, documents, and technology in order to exhibit, educate, and encourage future innovation. The museum is currently open to the public Thursday through Sunday and is located at 5000 Commerce Parkway in Roswell, GA. Additionally, the vast 44,000 square foot space is available for private events of all types. For more information, visit ComputerMuseumOfAmerica.org.
About Eaton Academy
Eaton Academy provides the caring educators, customized curriculum, safe environment, and positive experiences that enable individuals to obtain the quality education, sense of independence, and important life skills they need to successfully transition to adulthood.
Eaton Academy serves students who benefit from a more customized model of education, designed to meet their personal needs. For more information visit EatonAcademy.org.
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INQUIRIES:
Computer Museum of America
Elaine Pelaia, Director of Museum Operations
(404)455-1520
Eaton Academy
Grey Eaton, Instructor
(770) 645-2673