Meet Our 2024 Volunteer Scholarship Winner, Gabrielle Banks!

Each year, the Children’s Museum of Richmond offers a college scholarship for a high school junior or senior who has been an outstanding volunteer at the Museum. The scholarship winner must have completed at least 15 hours of volunteer service and should embody the mission of the Children’s Museum.

This year, we are incredibly proud to present Gabrielle Banks as our 2024 Volunteer Scholarship winner. Gabrielle is a rising senior at Maggie Walker Governor’s School and our Scholarship Panel was incredibly impressed by all she does. After reading her application and hearing her talk about her experiences during her interview, they were amazed by her ability to juggle so much.

Gabrielle is the co-President of the Future Problem Solvers club at her school, where she is also a member of the ASL club. She has played the viola in her school orchestras since sixth grade, and she works a summer job at a local restaurant. She also tutors young children at her school through Newtowne Tutoring. On top of all of this, she dedicated over 40 hours as a volunteer at the Children’s Museum of Richmond in 2023 and early 2024!

When asked what our mission of “learning through play” meant to her, Gabrielle shared: “It means learning in a way that is natural but still fun. It is something that is led by the kids, and allows them to create and investigate for themselves, but it still has support from adults. It allows kids to enjoy their childhood, while still learning about the world around them.” She also spoke about her own experiences as a child playing at the Museum, learning about science while splashing around at the water table.

We are so excited to see what Gabrielle does next!