Thronateeska's Top 10 of 2010, 01.03.11

Happy New Year! We wanted to take a break from the normal science and astronomy news we bring every week and instead reflect on all the wonderful things the past year held for us at Thronateeska Heritage Center. Here are some of our favorite things that took place in 2010:

1. Planetarium newsletters. It had been a dream of ours to get a newsletter started for the Wetherbee planetarium. In August, they started slowly as a series of press releases on astronomy events, and snowballed into a publication that we just could not wait to get out each week.  We are so happy about all of the readers we now have of the Word from the Wetherbee and the Wetherbee Sky Watcher, and we hope to continue providing it for many years to come, free for you!
2.  The Astronomy Series. We always love creating our own shows for the planetarium, and the series of astronomy presentations in the Wetherbee planetarium was also a dream of ours to begin. The astronomy series was something new we introduced over the summer. After a solid, six month run of presentations in the planetarium over the summer and fall, we will resume the series again on the third Tuesday of each month, beginning in March. Keep an eye out for it!
3.  Zoo in Space. We had the privilege of participating with the Flint RiverQuarium on September 18 in their first ever “Wings & Wildlife Festival.” Thronateeska was thrilled to author an original planetarium presentation titled Zoo in Space exclusively for the festival; a show about animal constellations and some of the fantastical stories they carry with them.
4. Archives & Collections Department growth. Managing records and history is at the heart of Thronateeska’s founding purpose, so we were more than happy to see this new program grow so quickly in 2010. We hope to serve you even better in 2011 with our department expansions!
5. Summer Camp & Day Camps. Summer is always a blast for us! Just because school is out, that does not mean we slow down! We had the opportunity to team up with the Flint RiverQuarium on some of their summer camps and also for their Home School Day program in October, a three week day camp of sorts just for home school kids. Don’t tell anyone, but there is a rumor of a space camp coming in the summer of 2011!
6. The Butterfly Exhibit. We are so proud to host the Dougherty County High School/High Tech Butterfly exhibit! The exhibit opened in April, and is still on display in the science museum. Be sure to stop by and learn about the experiment they did with NASA and some (probably very confused) newborn butterflies in zero gravity!
7.  Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is always such fun, and it is our pleasure to help coordinate the logistics of the festivities in March every year. What creates civic pride and community spirit more than a family-friendly, downtown street celebration? Be sure to join in this year; it is going to be great!
8.  Science museum exhibit expansions. We wanted to showcase some of the other great things we have had in our collections, so we made some additions in the science museum, with even more to come in the New Year! When you have the chance, be sure to stop by and see our genuine Right Whale skull, part of our mineral collection, and all the marvelous sea specimens we now have on display.
9. Updated Season of Light. We at Thronateeska have been dealing with Loch Ness Productions for years now. Their shows are always informative while still managing to be fun. We were more than happy to feature their new, updated version of one of their winter shows, Season of Light, this past December in the Wetherbee Planetarium.
10. Winter Holiday Exhibit. What would winter be without our holidays? Not just Christmas, either. We were curious about other winter holidays, so we did some digging and decided to share what we learned about other wintertime holidays that may not be quite so prevalent in Southwest Georgia. Sticking with the Christmas spirit, though, we just had to explain the origins of Christmas, traditions we celebrate along with it today, and the history of Santa Claus as a part of Don Fisher’s multi-thousand piece collection of Santa depictions. 

Thanks for sharing in our top ten last year! What a joy it was to meet and overcome each new milestone. In the coming year, we hope to do even more. Our mission, after all, is to:

…inspire wonder and stimulate exploration of science and South Georgia's history by providing a dynamic learning experience through an interactive science center and museum.