Updates by Laddie Elwell

Flowing With the Current

A Little History;

A Lot of Vision

                                             
The Vision –

Why did Headwaters Science Center happen to grow in Bemidji? There was never a loud call from the City’s population that there was a great need for a science center, and the City “fathers” and the Chamber of Commerce weren’t even aware that it was happening, nor did they, like most of the community, seem to care. Really, why should they have?

But that was about twenty years ago, and both City leaders and the Chamber are now supportive, as are a large number of people in the community! And who could have guessed that so many wonderful, and sometimes strange and/or hilarious, things would happen to bring us to the beginning of 2012?

In the early 1990’s, there was a group of people in town who were aware that there were quite a few folks with interests in things other than sports and the arts... and that there were kids who had no place to go to enjoy recreational fun involving learning activities. Most of the thirty or so people who attended the first publicized meeting that led to the birth of HSC had grown up in places where they had access to museums, or they were taken to museums as children, and they wanted their kids and grandkids to enjoy museum experiences.

That’s how it started. The former J.C. Penney building was just sitting around, being host to a few gigs, but not being fully utilized after the restaurant and hardware store moved out. Rosemary Given Amble helped us gain temporary access to it, and later she and Bud Amble, Bill Baumgartner, and John Baer helped us arrange a reasonable 5-year mortgage to buy the 413 Beltrami Avenue property. Those of us on the original working committee considered the old building to be a perfect startup site for a small science center: and it has been!

But what do we do at HSC––and what’s our goal? Our mission states: The Headwaters Science Center’s mission is to provide intellectual stimulation and enjoyment for all children and adults in its northern Minnesota service area with scientific and  echnological interactive displays, exhibits, and programs otherwise unavailable in the region. We do this, but it is an unexciting statement of the passion that those of us who work here feel about our real job.

Our real job is to help other people feel the wonder and excitement about how this very remarkable Universe we inhabit really works. Of course, we really don’t understand how everything does work, but, between us all at HSC and our scientist friends, we know many of the answers to questions about a lot of things! And we also know that there are lots of things that NOBODY knows so far... and that is exciting. We know that the kids we work with will grow up in a very different world, and we want to help them understand how to make decisions by carefully weighing alternatives, the way scientists do in assessing the results of carefully conducted experiments. But we also hope that along the way they will learn to feel a kinship with the Universe, that they will
see the magnificence in a butterfly’s wing, the precision in the chemical activities of every green leaf, and the true wonder of our Earth and all its inhabitants.

My Vision for HSC –

• Within a few months: a new executive director, passionate and knowledgeable about science and science center roles in rural areas and university towns, and appreciative of diverse cultures.

• Within two to five years: building the new center we need.

• Now and into the future: a soundly functioning, challenging, exciting, and up-to-date science center that will serve northern Minnesota exceptionally well!

HSC Seeks New Executive Director

With the impending retirement of Dr. Laddie Elwell as Executive Director, Headwaters Science Center is actively seeking a new executive director. If you wish to apply for this position, the job description is posted on our web site along with instructions for applying. It closes on December 9, 2011. Just follow the link.

Job Title: Executive Director
Reports to: Chair of the Board of Directors
Supervises: All Center Staff and Volunteers
Posting Date: November 17, 2011
Application Due: December 9, 2011

The purpose of this position is to manage the day-to-day operations of the Headwaters Science Center consistent with the Center’s mission, plans, budgets and governance as approved and directed by the Board of Directors.

Give to the Max Day - November 16

What if you could help us win $1000 just by giving 10 bucks? On Wednesday, November 16, Give to the Max Day, you can.

 Last year 42,000 donors logged on to GiveMN.org and gave over $10 million to Minnesota charities in 24 hours during Give to the Max Day. Together, we have the power to raise thousands of dollars for Headwaters Science Center.

Give to the Max Day amplifies your giving impact in a number of ways:

1. Win a Golden Ticket! $1,000 will be given to a random donor's charity every hour. To increase your chances of winning, make several small donations throughout the day and night, or have a donation party with some friends and organize a scheduled giving event!

2. Put us on the Leader Board! $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000 prize grants will be awarded to the top three nonprofit organizations which receive the most dollars in 24 hours during Give to the Max Day.

3. $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000 prize grants will be awarded to the top three small nonprofit organizations - with budgets under $750,000 (that’s us) - which receive the most dollars on Give to the Max Day.

GiveMN.org is the smart way for you to discover, support and engage with nonprofits like HSC. The online giving platform is safe and secure for credit and debit cards; you will receive automated tax deductible receipts through email, and conveniently track and record your donations in a single online location.

Please consider participating in Give to the Max Day on Wednesday, November 16. GiveMN is easy to use, and your generous gift to Headwaters Science Center will make a huge difference to our future.

You can go to the HSC web site to make a donation or go directly to our project at GiveMN.org

Thank you

I Gave Ten

WE ARE IN URGENT NEED OF YOUR HELP!

For nearly 20 years, Headwaters Science Center has served the Bemidji area and the Northern Minnesota region. However, due to a number of factors, the future of Headwaters Science Center is in jeopardy. We need your help to keep the doors open. Please show your support and help keep HSC a valuable and unique asset to the community and region.

“I GAVE TEN” is the theme of the HSC fundraiser beginning November 1, 2011. We are striving to motivate 4,000 supporters in our service area to donate a minimum of $10 each to secure a matching donation of $40,000 from an anonymous donor. This challenge has a December 15 deadline. Our ultimate goal is to raise $100,000.

HSC receives no direct public funding; we depend on grants, donations, store sales, and fees to support an annual operating budget of $229,000. Unfortunately, the current economic situation has depleted most grant opportunities and our current Director, Dr. Laddie Elwell, is retiring in February. Dr. Elwell has never received monetary compensation her 18 years of dedicated service and we are now faced with finding salary support for a new director. We need your help to overcome these challenging times.

November 16 has been selected as “Give to the Max Day” by GiveMN.org. This is an opportunity to donate on-line to Minnesota non-profits, including HSC. It allows donors to amplify their donations with up to $15,000 in prize grants! Last year, more than 42,000 donors logged on to GiveMN.org and gave over $10 million to Minnesota charities in 24 hours during Give to the Max Day. See our web site for details or go to GiveMn.org.

What you can do to help make this a successful fund raising effort:

1. First, make a generous contribution. You can donate by mail, by phone with a credit card, or on-line with a credit card on our web site or GiveMN.org web site.

2. Talk to your friends about contributing - spread the word on Facebook, Twitter and other media.

3. Write a letter to the editor in your local paper explaining why HSC is important to you.

Please help us keep HSC functioning as a viable educational resource.

Need to learn more about HSC? View a fact sheet.

Flowing With the Current by Laddie Elwell

It was a great summer at HSC! Thanks to help from the Neilson Foundation, there were weeklong programs about Birds, Photography, Robotics (2 weeks), and Advanced Robotics, and an Ecology group that met once a week for ten weeks. HSC was glad to be able to offer scholarships to many youngsters to attend. There were also regular meetings of Science Club, Tots ‘n’ Science, and Discovery Science. Also, hundreds of tourists from all over the United States and Canada (and a number of foreign nations as well) crowded into the Center, so our staff was kept very busy!

Time is flying by with February coming up on the horizon, and by then we will have a new director, assuming everything happens as it should. This means that HSC’s budget has to become significantly larger in order to support a paid director and the expenses he or she will need to cover in order to do the job properly. One of these expenses will be to attend the annual conference of the Association of Science Technology Centers, ASTC, which we all refer to as “aztek.” Our association with ASTC makes it possible for us to offer free admission to 322 other science centers across the United States (and around the world!) as a perk of HSC membership.

Jim and I will be attending the ASTC conference in Baltimore in October. Because we have always enjoyed ASTC meetings, we’ve regarded them almost as vacations, although, in truth, they are very busy and a fair amount of work! Science museum staff from all over the world attend the conferences and incredible amounts of information about programs, exhibits, and activities are exchanged. HSC staff members have been presenters for a number of ASTC sessions, mostly in those designed for small science centers. The wonderful thing about ASTC is that science center people in general are very generous in sharing ideas about almost anything that goes on in science centers and museums!

Science After Dark

Headwaters Science Center will be hosting their first Science After Dark event on Thursday, August 18 from 7-9pm at the Keg & Cork in Bemidji, MN.

Science After Dark is an opportunity for adults 21 and over to get together in a casual atmosphere and enjoy an evening of scientific entertainment. Guest physicist Glenn Schmieg, author and retired professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is coming to town and will perform entertaining and educational scintillating science exhibitions.

There will also be science trivia and other fun activities for everyone. In addition, Design Angler, our local digital marketing agency, will be offering door prizes which includes family Christmas photos using green-screen technology which means the background can be anything – Tahiti, Times Square, or even the moon. The grand door prize will be a family Christmas video from anywhere in the galaxy.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Headwaters Science Center or at the door.

Human Respiration and Circulation - Help Name the Exhibit!

Headwaters Science Center staff wants input from its visitors in helping to name an exhibition that has been under development over a period of several years. The exhibition has been funded by Beltrami County, North Country Health Services, Bemidji Medical Equipment, and National Science Foundation through the Science Museum of Minnesota.

It will have about 15 stations that concern human respiration, circulation, nutrition and exercise. Models, videos, and activities will help visitors to understand the marvelous efficiencies of two remarkable human systems and why proper nutrition and exercise are so critical to their healthy function. The exhibition is intended to help visitors understand what respiration and circulation involve, how they work, and what can happen to make them more or less functional or severely impaired.

Originated through collaboration with B-WELL under the direction of Marti Lundin, BSU professor Muriel Gilman, Sanford cardiac therapist Susan Carlson, and HSC staff members have been planning the exhibition with the hope that it will have its formal opening in September and undergo prototyping later this summer. Prototyping is the process of setting up an exhibition in a preliminary form, with temporary signage and the expectation that changes will be made to make it more meaningful through critiques from its first viewers, our visitors.

The original name was “Save Your Breath”, but as the exhibition has developed, that name seemed inappropriate, and a “catchy” new name hasn’t come up in the developers’ minds. Some of the names that are being considered are: Body Function Junction, Circulation City, Head to Toe, Blood & Air, Tip Top Body Shop, Shape it up, The Body & How it Works, Life & Longevity, Vitalization Station, Body, Breath, & Blood, and Vital Spark.
The exhibition developers and HSC staff want a name that will be lively, appropriate to the topics involved, and be of interest to people of ages (about) 7 to 100+. They will select the most appealing name within the next few weeks. The winner will receive a yearlong family membership in Headwaters Science Center, which not only allows free access to HSC and reduced prices for programs and Science Store purchases, but free access to over 300 other science centers across the United States and abroad.

Persons wishing to submit names can drop them off at the Science Center, e-mail them to Laddie Elwell , or mail them to HSC, Post Office Box 1176, Bemidji, MN 56619. The name will be decided upon within four weeks.