National Aquarium Welcomes SAMs

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The National Aquarium (1400 Constitution Avenue), the nation’s oldest aquatic museum, reopened its doors for the DowntownDC BID’s Safety/Hospitality and Maintenance (SAMs) employees, who held their September SAM of the Month meeting in a building that houses alligators, sharks and loggerhead sea turtles.

We want to extend a huge “thank you” to the National Aquarium for its hospitality. In addition to providing free meeting space, it also gave the SAMs complimentary box lunches and a tour. Located in the U.S. Department of Commerce Building, the aquarium is open daily, except on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and offers teacher and student learning programs as well as learning tools. It underwent a major renovation four years ago.

The SAM of the Month meeting recognizes individual SAMs for their stellar performance and informs all SAMs of new developments in the DowntownDC BID area by enhancing their understanding of Downtown institutions. This, in turn, enables them to better assist visitors, workers and residents.

During the meeting, Blake Holub, the BID’s quality control manager, provided an update on Public Space Management (PSM) activity and the Quality Assurance Program. He also introduced a new member of the PSM team, David Riedman, who assumed the newly created position of homeland security & emergency preparedness manager. Ebony Walton, the BID’s project coordinator, also provided an overview of the organization’s upcoming 15th anniversary celebration.

Two SAMs were recognized at the meeting as the July SAMs of the Month. They are Maintenance Team Member De’Marco Head and Safety/Hospitality Team Member Michael Bunn.

De’Marco Head is a two-time SAM of the Month employee who is once again being recognized for working hard to reach new heights. The 22-year-old “gadget guy” works the 7:30 am shift and is fond of computers and electronics. He enjoys going to the movies, shopping and spending time with family and friends.

Michael Bunn primarily works in the busy Chinatown “hot zone.” The native Washingtonian has been a member of the SAM Team for five years. This is Michael’s first SAM of the Month designation. “The best part of my job,” he said, “is knowing what’s going on in the city. I enjoy using the city as much as the people that I assist, so it’s helpful to me to be able to keep up with the latest happenings.” In his free time, the former FYE assistant store manager enjoys reading urban novels and exercising.