38 STUDENT ENGAGEMENT: NIGHT AT YOUR MUSEUM WITH A RECORD-BREAKING 1,400 ATTENDEES at this year’s event, Night at Your Museum (NAYM) is clearly building momentum. Begun in 2008 with the aim of creating memorable museum experiences for Smith students, NAYM has become a much-anticipated bright spot in the middle of winter. It is now a Smith tradition, one that is especially important to first-year students who attend in large numbers to socialize and get to know their museum. Live music and specialty mocktails complement this festive opportunity to connect and experience SCMA in a fun, after-hours atmosphere. February 2017 was an exciting time at SCMA with the opening of Leisure & Luxury in the Age of Nero: The Villas of Oplontis Near Pompeii. The diverse set of ancient objects displayed in the show inspired the theme for NAYM 2017: “Dress as Your Inner Deity.” The museum was radiant in fairy lights and grape vines, the atrium echoed students’ animated conversations over mousse- topped figs and the open galleries offered a serene space to spend time with ancient and contemporary art: Leisure and luxury with a modern twist! In addition to their eager participation during NAYM, Smith students have the opportunity to positively drive the event’s behind-the-scenes planning. The Student Museum Advisory Council supports this process by providing invaluable student perspectives and feedback to the post-baccalaureate fellows in education and mar- keting and communications who coordinate the event. SCMA student assistants in education and communications also play a key role in the weeks leading up to the big night by serving on the NAYM Planning and Marketing Committee during J-term. Twenty-five Museum Volunteer Persons (MVP) complete the range of student involvement by enthusiastically facilitating the various programmed activities during the span of the event, including artmaking on SCMA’s lower level. To further increase student participation and collaboration, Jessica Berube, the marketing and communications post-baccalaureate, launched a marketing and design campaign. To take advantage of the popular GeoFilter trend—graphic image overlays that share “where and when” on the Snapchat social media platform—SCMA held a contest for students to submit designs that would be live on Snapchat during the event. While design submissions were minimal, the impact was major. More than 300 people used the filter, and nearly 12,000 people saw or received it from a user. The contest and event resulted in roughly a 10 percent increase in Snapchat followers, and record highs for engagement that evening. Snapchat was not the only way that guests engaged online during Night at Your Museum. Instagram, another popular social media platform for students, had the highest number of posts for an SCMA event recorded to date. Unsurprisingly, this affirms SCMA’s prioritization of maintaining a digital presence during student programs. Social media serves to extend the museum’s goal of connecting people with art, ideas and each other beyond our own walls. NAYM attendance increased by 15 percent in 2017, continuing a pattern of steady growth and signaling a bright future for this event. Moving forward, many of the most popular aspects—including artmaking and live music—will still be offered, and SCMA will continue to strive to respond to student interest and creativity to produce its biggest annual event during the academic year. STUDENT ENGAGEMENT/NIGHT AT YOUR MUSEUM RUSSEL ALTAMIRANO, SACERDOTE POST- BACCALAUREATE FELLOW IN MUSEUM EDUCATION, 2016–2018