Magical New Year's Eve Event at Headwaters Science Center

Join the Headwaters Science Center on December 31, from 6 to 9pm for “Magical New Year’s Eve”, a family friendly New Year’s Eve Party. HSC Members can bring the family for $10; non-member families are only $15.


Expect magic, games, face painting, a special craft, delicious treats, and a very special ball drop at 9pm! Admission includes all activities, snacks, and entertainment.

Start your New Year’s Eve with the Bemidji Public Library from 4 to 5pm and then head over to the Headwaters Science Center, 413 Beltrami Ave, at 6pm to ring in the New Year!

A Message From Susan Joy

Live Streaming . . . .

                              . . . .Optimistic for the Future

Current Happenings by Susan Joy

Thanksgiving is an important holiday in my family, one that we use as a time to remember those who support us and to be thankful for all that we have. This year, I am thankful to my family who supported me in my new role and our move to a new community and state, and I amthankful to the community that welcomed us in June. I am thankful for science, talented staff, dedicated board members, a wonderful community, and a future ripe with possibility.

We have new projects on our horizon, including our invitation to join four other science centers in a national network, Portal to the Public, hosted by the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. Through Portal to the Public, HSC will bring scientists and researchers together for
conversations with our visitors and the public about science and technology. Our peers in the network include the Marian Koshland Science Museum in Washington DC, Morehead Planetarium and Science Museum at UNC Chapel Hill, Natural History Museum of Utah, and Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland.

Thank you to those of you who attended “Spirited Elements,” the first event of our fundraising series, “Elements of our Future.” We had a fantastic time sampling local beverages and food and the bidding war on the elements was very spirited! The periodic table in our lobby will be updated to reflect our new element owners. “Spirited Elements” was made possible by the generous support of local sponsors, vendors, and an amazing fundraising committee. Stay tuned for the next event in our “Elements of our Future” series, e3 (elevated epicurean experience), on February 23, 2013.

I also want to say thank you to those of you who took time to “Give to the Max”on November 15th, the day of giving in Minnesota to support local non-profits and schools. We would not be here without generous support from Bemidji and our region. If you missed “Give to the Max” day, you still have time to donate through our online site at GiveMN. org, powered by Razoo. Just click on the Donate Now button on the
hscbemidji.org website to be directed to our GiveMN.org project page.

With thanks,

Susan

Giving Tuesday

We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. Now we have Giving Tuesday™, the giving season’s opening day.

Today, Tuesday November 27, 2012 charities, families, businesses and individuals are coming together to transform the way people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season.

It’s a simple idea. Find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to join in acts of giving. Join the national celebration of our great tradition of generosity.

Please visit Headwaters Science Center's giving page and click on the "Donate Now" button. Here you can make a safe and secure on-line donation - and help HSC to achieve its awesome mission to make science education fun and meaningful to the kids of northern Minnesota.

. . .or you can do it right here and now!

Every Third Wednesday Is Special at HSC

Every third Wednesday something special happens at Headwaters Science Center. On this day a miniature horse, called a therapy horse, comes to visit the Tots-n-Science group from 10:00-11:00 am. Therapy horses are exceedingly social animals and seem to love the attention bestowed upon them by young people. Needless to say the kids are enthralled to have a real horse in the same room with them.

Headwaters Science Center offers programs for children ages 3-6 on each Wednesday. Bring your child to these programs for stories, hands on activities, and games to help children learn about things going on in their environment. Come and touch the science!

•  Adults must accompany children.
•  Pre-register by the day before the program. Call (218) 444-4472 to register.
• Program times: 10:00-11:00 AM each Wednesday.

 The cost is only $4 per child (exhibit floor not included). Adults are free and must accompany children. Pre-registration by the day before is recommended, or a program could be cancelled for lack of tots.

Spirited Elements Fundraiser

If you missed the Spirited Elements fundraiser, here is a chance to see a slide show all about it.

Spirited Elements

Headwaters Science Center announces the 2012-2013 fundraising series, "Elements of Our Future"

"Spirited Elements," the first event of the four-part series "Elements of Our Future,” will feature beer and wine tastings paired with local and seasonal food. A live auction of elements from the periodic table and other unique items will take place during the evening, and the BSU Music Department ensemble Voltage will entertain guests with “hands-on” music. Please join Headwaters Science Center, 413 Beltrami Avenue, Bemidji, on November 10th from 7 to 9 pm to be an "Element of Our Future.” Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased in advance via phone 218-444-4472, or in person at HSC, or at the door on November 10th.

Seasonal brews provided by Bemidji Brewing and Leech Lake Brewing Company, and wines from local vineyards, will be available to sample. Bar 209 will prepare local and seasonal foods provided by Natural Choice Farmer's Market and local growers. Dessert from Chocolates Plus and coffee from Cantabria Coffee will complete the evening.

Tammy Tisland and Aasness Auctioneers will be auctioning a limited number of elements at the event. Purchase an element from the Periodic Table and have your name or business permanently inscribed. This is a unique opportunity to become an "Element of Our Future"

Spirited Elements - Nov 10th

Spirited Elements is the first of three fundraising events scheduled for Headwaters Science Center. The common thread among all events is the periodic table of elements. This event will feature a wine and beer tasting with snacks, live music and a most unusual auction. When HSC was founded some 20 years ago there was a public dinner at which donations were offered by bidding on elements from the periodic table.
A successful bidder "owned" the element and his/her name was forever attached to it and displayed at the science center.

Now, 20 years later, we will again hold the auction of elements. Additionally, there will be high-end items donated by local businesses to be sold to the highest bidder. It surely will be a fun and interesting evening, so please plan to attend. Tickets are $25, although if you plan to bid on an element your ticket is free. The fun begins at 7:00 pm on Saturday, November 10th at Headwaters Science Center.

Details and more information are available on the HSC web site.

Help Us Win $3000!

Follow this link  if you are a Facebook user and vote for us! Minnesota Energy is offering a $3000 grant via the Facebook voting app. It starts today, October 16, and closes on November 6. You can vote every day and it only takes a minute. We are competing with 2 other non-profits in Minnesota and have a good chance to win if we can spread the word to all our supporters and friends. Please share and support our awesome programs! Thanks from all the kids and their teachers in northern Minnesota.

Current Happenings

Live Streaming . . . . .

Optimistic for the Future

Current Happenings by Susan Joy

Every day brings new challenges and new opportunities for discovery and I’m excited to be a part of the Headwaters Science Center. I would like to thank all the staff, board members, visitors, and community
partners who took time to make me feel welcome in my new position and community. I also would like to congratulate Laddie Elwell on her successful tenure as director of the Headwaters Science Center and give
my utmost appreciation for all her hard work and dedication to realize the vision of a hands-on science center for all in northern Minnesota.

The future of the Headwaters Science Center is full of possibility. Our biggest strength is the personalized visitor experience we provide to each and every guest through our door. Visitors are invited to explore very exhibit, hold a bunny or a snake, and have an opportunity to interact with scientists in a real and meaningful way. Our summer
camps, Discovery Science, and Tots -n- Science programs invite children to go further in their explorations. One of our future goals is to provide opportunities for youth and adults to engage in exploration and discovery through Science After Dark events or a science corps.

Our future also includes strengthening our organizational capacity to undertake challenges and celebrate success as we create a premier visitor experience. The board created a strategic plan to guide us along the road to fiscal sustainability, excellence in exhibits and programs, and regional engagement. I want to congratulate them on their successful undertaking and I am committed to carrying out the objectives of the plan to realize a successful future.

We are very grateful for the ongoing support provided by our community and we are committed to expanding our potential. In the next year, we will need support from our members and region to realize our future. Our 2012-2013 fundraising campaign, “Elements of our Future” is currently in progress and all of you are invited to join us! Your personal invitation to participate in one of our four special events is in the mail and information will be posted on our website and Facebook page.

Headwaters Science Center is proud to be a part of Bemidji and looks forward to providing a world-class visitor experience to our community and our region!

Give to the Max Day

Give to the Max Day on November 15 will be a big day for Headwaters Science Center. Please stay tuned and mark your calendar!

River Watch Project Underway

HSC has a two year contract with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to monitor water at six sites in the Mississippi River Headwaters watershed for chemical, physical, and biological qualities.  James Owens is the project leader and several other HSC employees are involved. Students from Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig High School and Camp Rabideau Conservation Academy will participate as volunteers in much of the sampling after they receive training provided by staff members at HSC and at the streams that each team and its teacher or responsible adult will monitor. This project is an up-to-date extension of the River Watch Program, which was initiated in the late 1980’s and adopted by the Mississippi Headwaters Board in 1989. River Watch is an international collaborative river-monitoring network of citizen volunteers, organizations, government agencies and private interests working together to ensure the health and wise use of streams and watersheds. In 1996, HSC received a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant of $465,000 to teach students and teachers about the unique properties of water, water chemistry, invertebrate assessments, soil science, and related topics. The grant allowed HSC to become involved with six schools over a period of five years to carry out extensive hands-on and outdoor field activities, including monitoring, with about 5,000 students and their teachers. This work will now continue, beginning in 2012.

Citizen Scientists

River Watch certified volunteers, referred to as Citizen Scientists, will be trained and teamed with experienced environmental scientists to collect high quality scientific data that will subsequently be used to gauge long-term trends in stream health, develop land management strategies, identify potentially degraded waters, and assess the effectiveness of restoration projects. Through the scrutiny of monitoring and due to their closer proximity to the actual resource, Citizen Scientists obtain a greater understanding and appreciation for our rivers and streams and serve as advocates for the protection of those resources.

Project Goal

A two-year data set will be completed for physical, biological (Escherichia coli), and water chemistry parameters for the Intensive Watershed Monitoring Plan to aid MPCA’s assessment of the aquatic health of the Leech Lake and Pine River watersheds. Six preselected sites will be intensively monitored utilizing MPCA’s Standard Operating Procedure for stream analysis using the ‘pour point’ method of sampling near the mouth of watersheds to evaluate the condition of upstream watersheds in an unbiased manner.  This is designed  to insure that the goals of the Clean Water Act are being met, which are:

• to insure waters “fishable and swimmable”,
• to locate possible impairments, if they exist,
• to provide information leading to stressor identification and guide subsequent remediation plans. 

Video Featuring Laddie Elwell and a Tour of HSC

Visit Our Coral Reef Exhibit

An exhibit featuring a 210 gallon marine aquarium is in place and proving to be very popular. We are asking help from members and friends to support its maintenance with a donation.  Stop in for the details and make your donation or mail it to: Headwaters Science Center, 413 Beltrami Ave, Bemidji, MN 56601. 

The exhibit is a cooperative venture between HSC and the Northern Minnesota Reef Club. To date, club members have helped determine and order equipment, helped haul the tank into and determine its’ placement in the Center and assisted in fundraising efforts for the project. The Reef Club plans to continue helping with maintenance and donating live corals. It is a nice attraction for the Science Center and hopefully will persuade more people to get into the hobby themselves and, of course, provide a mechanism for learning about and understanding coral reefs as a living community of plants and animals. Thanks to all that participated.

Science After Dark Event

Science is Really About Ignorance

In the March issue of Scientific American there is a really great article by Dr. Stuart Firestein titled, What Science Wants to Know - An impenetrable mountain of facts can obscure the deeper questions. Please take the time to read it by following this link. Then read the letter below, sent to the author by Kitura Main, a staff member of Headwaters Science Center. It reflects the frustration felt by so many of us, until you realize that science is not about facts and knowledge, but rather about ignorance. What a fresh way to look at it! Please read on.
John M.

_________________________________________________________

Greetings Stuart Firestein,

I have worked at a small science center in northern Minnesota for 13 years and have been passing on the joys of ignorance, fear and failure to our guests for most of those years. When I first started as a volunteer I needed to get over my fears of some of the animals. (Being a small center it is possible for our guests to handle our animals) I worked my way from lizard to snake till I hit the tarantula wall. I asked my trainer “what gives you the confidence that it won’t bite?’ The answer?  Ignorance! I said “I have plenty of that” and from then on I have embraced ignorance, questions and holding huge hairy spiders.

Just today I was extolling the joys of fear and failure in the demonstrations I was doing for visiting school groups. I tell them that most people have the wrong idea about science. They think of white lab coats, bad hair and always getting the answer right. Nahhh.  Try something and fail. Try again and fail better! We need a bumper sticker…………….. Ignorance is Inclusive.  More Questions, Less Krebs Cycle

Ignorance makes for better discussions. In the science club I run I try not to congratulate a right answer. Nothing shuts a discussion down faster than saying “that’s right, good job, your so smart”.  Emphasizing ignorance is definitely inclusive.

Fears have kept us alive, failure makes us smarter and logic doesn’t always win. These ideas come alive with the help of a few good props (such as a 6 foot boa constrictor).I know we have changed the way people think. Its freakin awesome! I love my job. I work at the Headwaters Science Center (the mighty Mississippi is not so mighty up here) in Bemidji MN. www.hscbemidji.org  in case you want to check us out.

I look forward to going to the library to get your book. One great thing about a small town -  Being a library addict, the librarians will actually buy the books I request. Our library now has a lot more science books and children’s books with strong female characters.

After I finish reading my copy of SA I send them to Belize where my daughter (it’s actually her subscription) is in the Peace Corps. Just thought you’d like to know.

Thanks for your work.
Kitura Main

Note:  Dr. Firestein responded to Kitura with an autographed copy of his book - and some great comments.

A Message from Susan Joy, New Director for HSC

I’m humbled and honored to be selected as the next director of the Headwaters Science Center. I visited the center in January and instantly felt the support and dedication that Bemidji has for this unique institution and the staff who make the operation of the center possible. Laddie and Jim are amazing individuals, as are all the staff and board members that I had the opportunity to meet. Everyone I spoke to had the same message, HSC is a special place, and we are dedicated to its future. I too believe that the center is a special place and I’m excited about the possibilities and challenges that lie ahead.

I grew up on a farm in Idaho, in the skinny panhandle part of the state, and some of my favorite childhood memories include visits to science centers and museums. I visited the Pacific Science Center in Seattle as a Girl Scout and my troop participated in a Camp-In event. During the winter holidays, my family would take the train east to visit relatives. Layovers in Chicago could last more than four hours and to pass the time, we would visit one of the numerous museums within a short walk or cab ride from Union Station, such as the Field Museum with its amazing paleontology collection. In Pittsburgh, visits to the Carnegie Science Museum and Buhl Planetarium could last multiple days, and visits to Washington DC revolved around the numerous Smithsonian museums. Now that I’m a parent, I take my children to museums, including science museums, to give them the exposure to a world beyond their front porch, as my parents did for me as a child.

Children and adults who visit HSC are given an opportunity to experience science, technology, and mathematics in a way that is fun and not threatening. They are also given the opportunity to experience a place that small communities, and even medium sized communities do not have, and that is a true hands-on, minds-on science center. The center has come a long way in 20 years, from an idea shared between dedicated community members to a full-fledged center. I support the mission and vision of the center and the long-term goals of developing a new, larger facility, expanding educational capacity to include more engineering, technology and mathematic aspects in addition to developing innovative and challenging science based exhibits.

I love visiting science centers and museums, they hold a special place in my history, and now I look forward to working at a very important science center, the Headwaters Science Center. Please stop by and say hello, I look forward to meeting HSC members and the community!

Susan

(Note: Susan will start her work at HSC during the first part of June)

 Flowing With the Current . . . .

                  A HAPPY ENDING
                           A NEW BEGINNING

Updates by Laddie Elwell

Susan Joy will write the next Flowing with the Current, and by the time you read it, she will be here in Bemidji, hard at work at HSC––and learning all about Bemidji and its inhabitants. She, her husband, Dan
Karalus, and two young sons, Harper and Charlie, expect to be here the second full week of June.

I am delighted that the search for a new Headwaters Science Center director has come to a very good close. A science center is many things. First of all, science centers/museums exist to bring the curiosity, logic, fascination, energy, wisdom, and hard work of the fields of science to the public, whose component populations use the gifts of science and nature every day without recognizing them. Beyond that, centers help to bring to visitors of all ages the joy of learning new things that help to make the world an absolutely fascinating place to live. We know that science centers can change lives, hopefully for the better, and we hope that we can help equip youngsters with tools that will help them make wiser decisions as they move through the minefield of youth!

So a science center is more than a nonprofit organization (though that IRS 501(c)(3) classification is so important for educational organizations like HSC with no reliable source of financial support!), and it is more than a business, though it must try hard to support itself as much as possible.  Susan Joy will come to a center that exists because a number of people saw the need to provide new options for northern Minnesota kids and
recognized also the desires of older citizens to have a place that helps to make a little more sense out of a confusing world. It was a risky venture, and HSC exists in one of the smallest communities served by a
science center!

From my standpoint, I wish that every child who would like to spend time in HSC could do so. In a community where such a large percentage of children live in poverty, there is nothing I would like more than to allow all children to come in free, just as long as they use the facility as it is intended to be used. If I were a magician, I would provide transportation to those who need it, too! Of course I’d like to do the same for adults.


Unfortunately, reality intervenes. The electric bill comes regularly, along with many others: insurance, water, gas, and so on, and staff members must be able to help support their families, though they are underpaid considering their skills and backgrounds. Then there are supplies: paper, computer and printer cartridges, exhibits and building materials, liquid nitrogen, supplies for classes, various kinds of equipment, sea salts, and too many other things to list!

Thank goodness we have had so many wonderful donors of equipment such as computers, furniture, office supplies, refreshments, and so many other things that we would never have been able to buy! And thank goodness also that so many people give of their time to help us as volunteers, because HSC wouldn’t have come into fruition without them, nor could it continue to exist.

Susan Joy will bring new ideas and changing procedures and expectations to HSC. She will face old and new challenges and she’ll have tough decisions to make. But she brings the love and excitement of science, and she comes into a community that I believe will come to appreciate her very much.

HSC Seeks New Executive Director

Headwaters Science Center is seeking an energetic, creative, and highly qualified Executive Director. A successful candidate is passionate about science and education, has organizational and budgetary experience, and can manage change. The director is responsible for all Center activities and outreach to its many community and regional stakeholders. The director manages a capable and enthusiastic staff of six and is responsible to the Board of Directors.

Salary and Benefits:

• $30,000 to $50,000 depending on qualifications.
• Basic benefits package.
• Three year contract. Option to renew, dependent on funding.

Please submit your resume or CV and references by March 16, 2012 via mail or e-mail to:

Laddie Elwell
Headwaters Science Center
413 Beltrami Ave NW
Bemidji, MN 56601
218-751-8632 direct (218-444-4472 general)
ljelwell@paulbunyan.net

You can view the Executive Director's Job Description here. Associated documents of interest can be found on the Official Documents page. Please explore our web site to learn more about the scope of activities at HSC.

Summer Programs at Headwaters Science Center

Headwaters Science Center announces a variety of summer programs for kids and adults. Advance registration is recommended. Check the link for all the details.

Get Your Tickets to "E-Cubed"!

This is about the third annual e3 dinner extravaganza at HSC on Saturday February 18, starting at 5:30 pm. If you don't have your tickets yet, they are available at HSC, or call 218-444-4472 and make a reservation with a credit card. You can get all the details by following this link.


This menu will provide a real incentive to get your tickets now!

Robotics

Another First Lego League (FLL, grades 4-9) season has come and gone. In this project our teams met every Thursday after school for 8 weeks at HSC where we worked in collaboration with Beltrami County 4H’s Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) program. We started with 4 tournament slots and then donated one bid to a neighboring county and arrived at regionals in Northome with 3 teams rip roaring ready to go and busting at the seams. It was a big big task, but we were able to turn 20-25 squirrelly kids into focused winning teams! Our young engineers designed, built, and programmed their robots with sensor-stimulated artificial intelligence to independently maneuver about, completing a variety of tasks on a competition board with food safety as our unifying theme this year. They also presented accompanying project reports, skits, and demonstrations which identified food safety issues and then they proposed technological solutions to these problems.

This competition is an amazing example of how kids can grow in ways we expect, but also in ways and manners beyond how we might imagine they would. In addition to honing abilities in mechanical and computer engineering, they learn teamwork and time management skills as they prepare their robots and develop them to championship status.

Our squads brought home hardware from the Northern Minnesota Regional Robotics Tournament once again. This year they won two bronze and a silver medal with one team garnering a special recognition and proclamation for design excellence by using pneumatics to accomplish robotic tasks. This is a high profile program that brings HSC much recognition in the community. Though we did not make our bid to the FLL State Robotics Tournament this year (as we have in years past), our top team missing by just one ranking, most of the kids

As for this year, we are not finished showing our "right stuff." Look for us at the "ROBO SHACK" this summer at the Beltrami County Fair where we will feature these and other technological achievements of our young engineers. They have formed a permanent club and are continuing to meet the first Thursday of every month at HSC.

THANK YOU – Paul Bunyan Communications is and has been our steady major sponsor, supporting us in equipment acquisition (these robots are not cheap) and by paying our tournament entry fees along with other associated costs. This project would also not be possible without the volunteer efforts of parents and coaches––thanks a bunch!

If you would like to help us out next season or have a child in this age range who shows a real interest in technology, especially robotics, contact James Owens at 444-4472.

Reef News

Many things around HSC are continually changing; such is life in our 210 gallon reef tank. The tank’s charm lies not so much in its capacity to hold liquid but its capacity to support marine biota. Here in Bemidji we are about as far from the ocean as anyone on Earth could be, so this tank has been a bit of a local spectacle. We are lucky to have had it donated to us. Come see it if you haven’t lately.

The task of reef tank maintenance is formidable, as it takes a generous input of energy, a plethora of specialized equipment, pure H2O, NaCl (sodium chloride = salt), the right combination of living elements, and timely applied human capital. It is all worth it, though, when you hear the excitement it generates, especially with young children. The little ones shriek and shrill as they easily recognize Nemo and Marlin (Clownfish––Amphiprion percula). Pixar and its computer animators helped make these lovable vertebrates a popular part of the America’s entertainment lexicon, and in so doing they actually reinvigorated the reef aquarium industry.

Let’s tell part of a tale that two very different species share. Clownfish live in a "symbiotic" (mutually beneficial) relationship with our bubble tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor). Clownfish are very busy fish and extremely aggressive. Because they are quite active, the clownfish are thought to be "clowning around." Clownfish perform an elaborate dance with an anemone before taking up residence, gently touching the bubble tipped tentacles with different parts of their bodies until they are acclimated to their host. A layer of mucus on the clownfish skin makes it immune to the fish-eating anemone’s lethal sting. In exchange for food scraps and safety from predators, the clownfish drives off intruders and preens its host anemone, removing parasites.

Clownfish spend their entire lives with their host anemone, rarely straying more than a few meters from it. They lay their eggs about twice a month on the nearest hard surface concealed by the fleshy base of the anemone, and they aggressively protect the developing embryos. Just after a clownfish hatches, it drifts near the surface for a week or two as a tiny, transparent larva. Then it metamorphoses into a miniature clownfish about a centimeter long that descends to the reef. If the young fish doesn’t find an anemone and acclimatize to its new life within a day or two, it will die.

Surprisingly, all clownfish are born male. They have the ability to change their gender, but will do so only to become the dominant female of a group. This change is irreversible! Should the female in the anemone group die, the dominant male then becomes female and breeds with one of the males that inhabit the same sea anemone. Changing gender is not particularly rare among coral reef fish, but most change from female to male.

Food, Food and Fun

Coming Saturday February 18, 2012

The science of food has never been more personal!

For the third edition of “e-cubed” (e3 III), Headwaters Science Center will take "Dining at the next level" to completely new heights. This year, gourmet cooking will be a live experience! Chef Mike Holleman with Indian Harvest has gathered together an extraordinary company of chefs who will join him in preparing special recipes - LIVE! In addition to Mike, participants are:

• Chef Bill Downs - Sanford Center
• Chef Arron Evenson - Lueken’s
• Chef Reed Olson - Wild Hare
• Chefs and specialties from Minnesota Nice,
• Cabin Coffeehouse, Tutto Bene, Harmony Co-op, and others
• Chef Daniel Eastman - Concordia Language Villages 

Tickets are $45 and are on sale now at HSC. Stop in at 413 Beltrami Avenue to pick up your tickets. You may reserve them up to 24 hours in advance, and pay with a credit card by calling 218-444-4472.

 

 

 

Fundraiser Ends - A Success!

The “I Gave Ten” fundraising campaign came to a close on December 31. We are thrilled to report that we were able to take full advantage of the $40,000 in matching funds due to the generous donations and support of the Bemidji area, surrounding communities, and far away friends of the Science Center. $40,000 was raised by Dec 15th, but our ultimate goal was to reach $100,000. At the time of this writing we have raised (including the match) about $90,000. THANK YOU to all who have helped us make it this far.

If you would like to help us make it the rest of the way to our goal we will welcome donations at any time. It has been very inspiring and heartwarming to see so many people step up to help insure the continued success of the Headwaters Science Center. It has been encouraging to have so many stop in and offer not only monetary support, but verbal support for what the science center means to them and to this community.

Here’s what people are saying about Headwaters Science Center:

Without a doubt one of the most hands-on, family-friendly science centers anywhere.


I love HSC! I love the people, the exhibits, the programs, the animals… I love the whole spirit of the place! Keep up the great work!


HSC Rocks! (and chirps, slithers, grows, etc.) May HSC continue to touch lives, empower the community and impact the future.


This is an investment in our kids! “The employees and volunteers at HSC are making a difference in so many peoples’ lives! This place is awesome!


Like the Mississippi Headwaters – a source of inspiration for discovery.


The Science Center is a great asset to the community.

A big, hearty, Thank You! goes out to Paul Bunyan Broadcasting, RP Broadcasting, Coyote 102, Minnesota Public Radio, Q107, Paul Bunyan Communications, The Bemidji Pioneer, and the Buyline for helping us get our message out. We couldn’t have done it without you. We appreciate you and the way you support this community.

THANK YOU!