EdVenture children’s museum may come to Hartsville
Kids can attend various EdVenture camps during the school year and over the summer vacation.
Photos courtesy of EdVenture Children’s Museum
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Hartsville City Council received some exciting news at their September 13 regular meeting when the head of one of America’s top children’s museums discussed the possibility of opening a satellite location in Hartsville. If all goes well, the EdVenture Children’s Museum of Columbia may bring their innovative childhood education programs to Darlington County kids within a year.
“We use play to further development, because play is how young children learn,” said Karen Coltrane, president and CEO of EdVenture. “Play is a biological drive wired into human beings…because that’s how young children learn until their brains have developed to the point where they can read. They often say that up to third grade you are learning to read, then after third grade you read to learn… early childhood matters (because) 99-percent of kids who can’t read by the end of third grade really don’t read.”
EdVenture exhibits are designed to challenge children with a series of new yet familiar scenarios, such as finding, sorting, and buying food in a mock grocery store.
Karen Coltrane, president and CEO of EdVenture
“There is no better way for children to learn early math skills than sorting in a grocery store,” said Coltrane, adding that exhibits like mock banks allow teachers to discuss numbers and money, and exhibits of fire, police, and emergency medical vehicles open discussions about health and safety.
Coltrane explained that EdVenture’s focus on interactive play increases a child’s social skills, creativity, and their ability to solve problems through the application of logic and experimentation – a soft skill prized by employers.
“We are at the beginning of the workforce development pipeline. We get kids excited about learning,” said Coltrane.
EdVenture is the largest children’s museum in the southeast, and out of over 300 such venues across the country it regularly ranks in the top 25. They welcomed 217,000 visitors in the past fiscal year, with about 70,000 of those admitted at a reduced rate of $1 available to families on public assistance. EdVenture holds summer camps, vacation camps during school year holidays, hosts after school programs, and conducts professional development programs for educators.
“We really want our educational leaders to be partners with us in our professional and youth development programs because that’s really where you get the richness out of your children’s museum,” said Coltrane.
Coltrane said the EdVenture board of directors is excited about the potential of opening satellite centers in communities like Hartsville and – potentially – North Augusta. Coltrane said that running the museum would require about $250,000 annually, with $75,000 earned from admissions and programs, another $75,000 from fundraising and sponsorships, and $100,000 in hospitality tax revenues.
“One of the reasons this model works is there’s no real big overhead in here. We’re already paying for that in Columbia,” said Coltrane, noting that EdVenture’s current administrative team would handle much of the workload not related to daily operation.
Hartsville City Council members voiced strong support for the idea, and voted later in the meeting to acquire two parcels of land downtown for use as an EdVenture campus. Council passed first reading on Ordinances 4269 and 4270, approving the expenditure of $240,000 and $30,000 to purchase .17 acres and .15 acres, respectively, located at 146 West Carolina Avenue.
Coltrane said that if the city continued with this level of responsiveness, the Hartsville satellite EdVenture museum might be ready to open by this time next year. To learn more about the museum, visit them online at www.edventure.org.
On the regular agenda, council approved spending $30,000 to hire Alta Planning and Design firm of Greenville to review and overhaul the city’s ordinances related to economic development.
Council also agreed to pay Hanna Engineering $27,500 to construct a sidewalk on Marion Avenue, with costs funded by a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
Another CDBG-funded project – the demolition of the Lincoln Village apartment complex – received approval for an asbestos study (required by federal law before demo can begin). Council agreed to pay Summit Engineering of Fort Mill $2,970 to conduct the asbestos study.