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.