LA Museum Brings Ancient Egypt to Local Middle School

This February, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) temporarily relocated to a middle school campus – its traveling classroom, that is.

LACMA and PUC Community Charter Middle School, the first startup charter school in the San Fernando Valley, partnered to give sixth grade students a one-of-a-kind opportunity to hold and examine real-world objects from the museum’s Egyptian Art collection, learn about early-world traditions and create art.

Between Feb. 5 and 6, PUC Community Charter hosted LACMA’s Ancient World Mobile Museum and its hands-on experiences during school hours. As part of the PUC network’s passion for meaningful partnerships and transformative learning experiences to enhance students’ creative potential and cultural awareness, programming was offered to each sixth-grade student in the school.

Inside PUC Community Charter, LACMA museology educators donned gloves alongside students, who observed and handled authentic Ancient Egyptian art objects from LACMA’s collection. Through the programming, PUC Community Charter students created personal connections to the culture of the early world.

“There’s hard Ancient Egyptian materials that show pictures of ancient gods,” said sixth-grader Julian. “I found out that it tells a story about how it become a god. That’s really cool.”

In the 48-foot Ancient World Mobile, PUC Community Charter students learned about Egyptian cultures and early indigenous cultures in the early Americas. The sixth graders then used clay to create their own art inspired by ancient traditions and symbolism.

"This is such a special, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students," said PUC Community Charter Principal Claudio Estrada, Jr. “When our students ground themselves in knowledge of ancient communities, they’re more equipped to uplift our own Lakeview Terrace community.”

PUC Community Charter, part of the PUC Schools network, is steadfastly committed to uplifting and revitalizing the communities each school serves, while instilling a deep commitment within graduates to give back to their communities. PUC Schools also offers additional unique immersion opportunities to sixth graders, such as its week-long class attendance at California State University, Northridge, to visualize college as an attainable and desirable future.

PUC Schools is a high-performing network of 14 public charter schools providing college-preparatory educational programming in northeast Los Angeles and the northeast San Fernando Valley – two densely populated urban communities with historically low-achieving schools. PUC’s school programs emphasize academics, art and athletics in a culture that prepares students to attend and succeed in college through a rigorous academic program while uplifting and revitalizing communities through its work.

PUC’s vision is to facilitate school reform in high-need regions. The network currently operates high-quality schools located in Lincoln Heights, Cypress Park, Eagle Rock, Sylmar, Lakeview Terrace, Pacoima and San Fernando.

PUC Schools is now enrolling for the 2025-2026 school year. To learn more about PUC Schools and submit an application, visit www.pucschools.org.

LACMA’s Mobile Museum program is free for any Title 1 school located in Los Angeles County, and programming is aligned with state content standards for grade six. To learn more about LACMA’s educational programming, visit www.lacma.org/education/school-programs.