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Posts by: Samantha Hoover

Peopling of America Center opens at Ellis Island

By Samantha Hoover
November 7, 2011
Culture + Museums
American Flag of Faces, 2011

American Flag of Faces, 2011

It’s always thrilling to see Lady Liberty up close, even for this jaded New Yorker. I must admit it’s rare that I get the chance, but I did at the Statue of Liberty’s 125th birthday celebration on October 28th. The event—which included marching bands, politicians, celebrities, and, of course, fireworks—also commemorated the opening of the Peopling of America Center at Ellis Island, which was designed by ESI and marks an important milestone in our long-term collaboration with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation.

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Day of Play

By Samantha Hoover
September 24, 2010
Play!

Speaking of play… ESI created Ball Pop! this summer for the 2010 Come out and Play Festival.

This Saturday, September 25, is World Wide Day of Play, an annual event designed to encourage kids and parents to turn off the television and play, especially outdoors. We take play seriously at ESI Design and it is integral to many of our most successful interactive experiences.

To commemorate this day and give a shout out to the importance of play in learning and development we asked ESIers what kind of play they engaged in as kids and if they engage in any similar activities as adults.

Kris liked to create villages out of sticks, stones, grasses and mud.

Erica played in the woods: jumping through creeks and riverbeds, ‘fishing’ for tadpoles and frogs, lumping up piles of sticks and branches to make enclosures.

Greg liked to construct forts, structures, shelters and hideaways.

And Bryan created elaborate Smurf lands that spanned furniture surfaces, including the Smurfs themselves, their mushroom houses, water wells and wheelbarrows.

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