Science made fun at open house
VAUGHN MARTIN, left, science/nature educator at the Francis Malcolm Science Center in Easton, handles a lobster from the Ocean Touch Tank at the center’s April 30 open house.
In addition to the lobster, visitors could touch sea stars, sea cucumbers, crabs and sea urchins. Several hundred people attended the annual event.
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
EASTON — Several hundred people came out for a fun-filled day of exciting activities and events April 30 as the Francis Malcolm Science Center in Easton hosted its annual open house.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
JAYLEE HOWLETT, 5, of Mapleton, and her mother, Julie, look at slides under a microscope during the recent open house held at the Francis Malcolm Science Center in Easton. The event featured several fun and exciting hands-on activities.
Larry Berz, planetarium director and astronomy educator at the science center, said the open house is usually held in the summer.
“Seasonally we thought it would be better having a little cooler weather where it wasn’t quite as congested,” he said. “We had deep impact today, so we’re glad for a little bit cooler venue and an opportunity for people to mill about without that discomfort factor. This has been an excellent and well received open house.”
Another reason for the scheduling change was to allow representatives from corporate planetarium provider Spitz, Inc. of Chadds Ford, Pa. to offer two demonstrations of new SciDome Digital Planetarium technology.
In addition to the planetarium shows, the open house featured WAGM meteorologist Ted Shapiro, who taught guests how to make a short-term forecast simply by knowing how to read the “signs”; Tim Duda and Michael Hill, from the National Weather Service in Caribou, displayed a variety of weather-related gadgets and gizmos and provided informative talks ranging from hurricanes and lightning to pursuing a career in meteorology; a model rocket launch, a woods treasure hunt, an Ocean Touch Tank, where visitors could touch such invertebrates as sea stars, sea cucumbers, crabs and sea urchins, and much more.
“We really wanted to have a comprehensive impact to show that the science center is going to meet the needs of every member of our community from the youngest to the oldest,” said Berz, “and that there’s going to be interactive, hands-on experiences continually at the science center, as well. We wanted to have a representative set of activities here that were going to coordinate with the overall mission of the center as one of America’s premier facilities for interactive science hands-on lessons.”
While showing off all that the science center has to offer was an important part of the day’s events, Berz said the overall objective of the open house was “to address the financial needs of the science center — operationally — for the future benefit of Aroostook County and western New Brunswick.”
“Our investments that have sustained the trust of this operational budget are now really suffering. We’ve been seeing underperformance now for a few years and we need the community, we need revival, we need input, we need contributions,” he said. “We need to go back to the people who have benefited without charge really to the science center in school programming venues for many years.
“We don’t want to risk the possibility of losing the Francis Malcolm Science Center, so our essential purpose was to highlight and illustrate the need for community sponsorship backing and contributions,” said Berz. “Once we can establish that foundation and framework with confidence — whether it be through individual contributions, corporate investments or community service organizations, we’re going to be able to introduce the technology that we’re highlighting — SciDome Digital Planetarium technology — which will make us cutting edge and viable for the children, grandchildren and the next wave of young professionals in science and mathematics.”
The digital planetarium technology alone will cost approximately $250,000.
“Clearly we need more than that. Our goal would probably entail multi-millions within a 3-5 year period … whatever is required to sustain us,” Berz said. “We realize that it’s time to come back to the community with confidence that folks are going to recognize the pleasure, joy, boost and supplement for individuals for financial support and for the ability to be able to contribute individually and uniquely to make the science center their very own.
“We are in campaign mode, and we believe this aggressive approach is going to bear fruit. We’ll be doing ongoing solicitation to the community service organizations; we’re going to be visible and keep a real active profile,” he said. “Once we can achieve this overall mission and can open the doors to a new piece of technology that will transcend previous educational and cultural efforts here, The County will have something to shout about to the rest of the United States.”
Located at 776 Houlton Road in Easton, the science center opened its doors in October 1983. For more information, log onto www.francismalcolmsciencecenter.com or call 488-5451.
