I was at the Discovery Center today with my kids and again thought about how great it was to see this:
(Sorry for the blurry picture.) If you don’t know what “LEED Gold” means you can check out LEED at Wikipedia. It’s things like this that make Councilman Dan Chiles is smile. (He’s on the forefront of trying to get the city to adopt a Green Building Policy.)
I also want to give props to Discovery Center volunteer staff member Ashlee Piacentini. Not only is she a very friendly woman but she was great with my son Dale. He loves to read and she was heading up the book club for the Discovery Center. She was in the WorldWise area (only open about six months on the fourth floor of the new building…if you haven’t see it take the kids. It gives you a really good idea of cultures from around the world. Now if they’d only get the ChromoZone completely open…) Dale was being Dale and struck up a conversation and found out about the book club…and he was hooked. So Ashlee explained she was working in the Explor-atory Lab and had come upstairs to print off papers for the book club. So Dale became her instant assistant and followed her downstairs to the lab so he could get the papers for the club.
Then while Elijah ran around looking at other exhibits, Ashlee took the time to sit down and show Dale a host of different things about the body. She was explaining everything in ways that were easy for Dale to understand and she was very patient with Dale. (He can get a little excited sometimes when learning things and loses focus…but hey, he’s six.) Dale really liked her and talked about the things she taught him on the way home. He can’t wait to get back to school to try and find books from the book club list in the school library!
So thank you to Ashlee! She’s a great example of the wonderful staff at the Discovery Center who really care about the kids who visit.
I would really like to know when Councilmen Chiles, city of Springfield, or City Utilities for that matter are really going to go GREEN. Using less energy isn’t helping in any manner since your still burning coal, or oil related products to heat, cool, and power everything you do. GREEN should mean solar panels, wind turbines and the like, not some phony baloney less energy crap.
It seems typical however to “create” some bureaucratic feel good program which ends up costing the taxpayers more funds to build a building because in the long run they might save a little in resources.
Jason,
Thanks again for visiting Discovery Center and we are so proud of our volunteers and staff that assist in making the family experience a fun/learning one.
To Tom’s comment. “Green” is not just about heating and cooling. “Green” and sustainability is a way of thinking and lifestyle change. Our museum has been designed to incorporate some of the practices you mention–we hope to serve as an educational resource within the realm of green, as well as hands-on science! Glad to hear you’re also interested in pursuing green as a lifestyle!