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Public Library, Oh Wow! Partner on STEM Kit
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Science is Timmy Krohn’s favorite subject in school, he says, and he’s enjoyed his many visits to the Oh Wow! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science & Technology.
“I love it,” the 14-year-old Struthers resident remarked.
A new collaboration between Oh Wow and the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County will allow more youths like Krohn and their families to explore the STEM disciplines -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Krohn was among a group of school-age children who attended an event Monday at the Main Library to uonveil the program.
During the event, youth services librarians Samantha Schneider and Ashley Bentfeld demonstrated several home science experiments focusing on chemistry and physics for the group.
The Oh Wow! Stem Exploration Kit, which library patrons age 18 and older can check out using their library cards, includes two science-related books, a set of science activities and a pass permitting up to four people to visit Oh Wow! during the week the kit is checked out. Each of the library system’s 15 branch libraries will have one of the kits available for checkout.
The library has increased its emphasis on STEM, says its executive director, Heidi Daniel. “We think that’s an important aspect of learning for our community, in particular for what’s happening in the Valley, and we try to respond to what we see happening in our community because that’s who we serve,” she said.
The library purchased the one-year Oh Wow! memberships for the 15 branch libraries for $100 each, says Janet Loew, library communications and public relations director. The cost of the kits was offset in part by a $500 donation from Making Kids Count.
“We’re all about partnerships at Oh Wow! and the Public Library’s changed the face of reading and literacy in Mahoning County,” said Suzanne Barbati, Oh Wow’s executive director and president. Oh Wow! and the library have partnered for several years on the summer reading program “and this is just an extension of that partnership,” she continued.
A representative from Making Kids Count was not on hand at Monday's event but its founder, Jenny Kennedy, expressed these sentiments in a news release issued by the library: “Making Kids Count believes that every child deserves to feel special. We may not be there with them, but just to know that our sponsorship can make for a happy day for those that otherwise might not be able to enjoy the OH WOW! experience is a great feeling for us. We hope that each and every child will enjoy their day of fun as well as some learning.”
The program enables Oh Wow! to serve families regardless of their ability to pay, Barbati remarked. “We are dedicated to the concept of serving the greatest number of people possible” but the museum’s admission price is sometimes “a barrier for people to enjoy the facility and practice those experiments on our exhibit floor,” she said. “This is an opportunity to increase the number of visitors in the museum, to offer this as an experience for people who wouldn’t normally be able to afford it.”
“It’s a great way for us to further our partnership with Oh Wow! and to include more learning opportunities for members of our community,” Daniel added.
As part of the library’s STEM focus, Daniel notes the recently installed Technology Wall at the Main Library is seeing greater use. “There will be more pieces of that coming that tie into STEM education as well, and more of our programing will have that emphasis in the future,” she said.
Mary Beth Miller of Enon Valley, Pa., who accompanied her three children to Monday’s event, praised the STEM initiative. “It will get more kids to use the library and help them do hands-on things,” she said. All three of her kids are interested in science and “love doing hands-on experiments.”
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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