Thanks to all our participants and partners for a terrific second year of Monday Night Science! Please see below for an updated schedule of upcoming dates for the remainder of 2025 through September 2026. Please join us for Science of Sound presentations by musician and piano tuner, Matt Jordan, on December 1st, followed by Professor of Physics at Davis & Elkins College, Dr. Jerod Caligiuri, on December 15th.
Check out our weather station!
We’ve been enjoying lots of local food from The Charm Farm and baked goods from Bailey Falls in 2025! Our recent STEAM events have included activities from all sorts of local partners. We’ve recently been thrilled to learn from The Whalemobile, Clay2Go exhibits, planting onions in the community garden, art with Emilee Goodman,, and robots with Chuck Trautwein!
Modeled on the dream of our 2022 National Youth Science Camp Alum of the Year, Dennis Schatz (CO 1965), we are proud to host the third year of our local program, Monday Night Science! Email Associate Director Nathan Sams for more information. Dates are also posted on our Calendar of Events. A huge thank you to the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation for sponsoring this program, and to our partners at the Tucker County Family Support Center for helping to make these events possible!
We had SO MUCH FUN learning about local geology and collecting fossils at Horseshoe Recreation and Campground Area! Check out some photos below!
Another big “THANK YOU!” to Tucker County Family Resource Network for leading our Buddy Build event with hoagies and birdhouses! Participants also enjoyed art activities with Ben Nelson and Elizabeth Bohon, as well as a nature walk led by Frank Gebhard with local flora in bloom. Our first year of programming wrapped up with a presentation by local herbalist Nicole Spencer on our Davis Campus, followed by a cookout, fossil hunt, and rock painting party at Camp Horseshoe near Parsons.
During May we prepared our community garden with raised beds for local families. Parents helped to assemble the beds while other participants enjoyed a wetland tour led by Frank Gebhard.
Our eclipse event on April 8th, 2024, was a tremendous success with over 450 attendees, followed by a spaghetti dinner and a talk on DarkSky International from folks at Blackwater State Park in the evening. We also celebrated Earth Day with a walk on the Heart of the Highlands trails around our campus led by biologist Frank Gebhard.
In early March 2024 we celebrated Dena L. Beckner’s book A Wild & Wonderful West Virginia Alphabet. The local parent, author, and illustrator joined us for a book signing with copies of the book provided by Tucker County Family Resource Network. We highlighted several letters in the book with STEAM activities and tables – including local elderberry jam, honey (with Mat Cloak on beehives), sugar maple syrup, quilt squares, and zucchini seeds. The local Parents as Teachers group made pepperoni rolls and Charm Farm provided local greens for a delicious salad. Two weeks later, we premiered our promotional video by Verglas Media featuring Monday Night Science families! In addition, Jerod Caligiuri of Davis & Elkins College led a planetarium show plus activities on dark skies and light pollution after a wonderful dinner including beef, carrots, potatoes, and onions from Charm Farm in Beverly, WV.
We enjoyed activities where science and art intersect with Emilee Goodman and Frank Gebhard on February 5th, 2024!
For the month of December 2024 we enjoyed game nights with a focus on community bonding, math, strategy, and problem-solving skills in our fun learning environment. Thank you to locals Jason and Angie of The Adventure Guild Game Shop in Thomas for joining us on December 18th!
Thank you to Frank Gebhard of Friends of Blackwater, Jerod Caligiuri of Davis & Elkins College, Pablo Velt of the WV Science Public Outreach Team (SPOT), as well as to Beth Henry-Vance and Callie Cronin Sams of the WV Department of Environmental Protection for joining us in November for our local water/wetlands programming!
Todd Ensign and Autumn Gleydura from the NASA Katherine Johnson IV & V Education Resource Center in Fairmont joined us in October. On October 9th, they led activities with a portable dome planetarium and infrared camera. On October 23rd, they focused on rockets, drones, and robots!
