ENGAGING ROAD TRIP
Hill Country Science Mill in Johnson City makes exploration fun for young minds.
JOHNSON CITY — Where a dilapidated grist mill, cotton gin and feed mill once sat rusting in this small town that claims fewer than 2,000 residents, the new Hill Country Science Mill is attracting multiple generations to hands-on science and technology exhibits feeding curiosity and encouraging experimentation.
It’s a project created by two retired Minnesotans who fell in love with the scenic Hill Country while visiting friends, then spotted an opportunity to transform the historic but neglected building into a place where young people are inspired to learn about STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers through fun exhibits that spark creativity.
Take the Banana Piano, for example. Five bananas lined up on a table are clipped to a cable and a circuit board that are part of a kit you can buy online that connects with a laptop computer. Hold the metal end of the black wire with one hand and tap on the bananas with your other and the bananas make the sound of piano keys. You’re making music with fruit — or at least a series of disjointed but entertaining notes when a preschooler gets the hang of it. It’s a discovery that prompts a “come look at this” reaction for anyone with friends or family nearby.
From an off-the-shelf technology exhibit to much more elaborate opportunities to explore and learn about augmented reality, systems of the human body or robotics, founders Bonnie Baskin and her husband, Bob Elde, set out to specifically target middle school students in an effort to get them interested in science and technology as a possible career or higher education focus. Their concern about the lack of interest in science prompted them to invest in the museum to try to change that.
“You can’t fall in love with science by reading it. You have to do it,” said Baskin, who chose the 35 exhibits in the museum. “I love to watch kids interact with exhibits and get excited.” And she has ideas for more new exhibits and expanding into other areas of Texas.
Baskin’s own love of science was sparked in high school when she read “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson, a book about the negative effects on the environment by indiscriminate use of pesticides. She earned a Ph.D in microbiology from the University of Miami and a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. She launched ViroMed, a clinical laboratory that focused on specific viruses, and sold it for millions before starting a second company, AppTec, where she focused on cancer therapy and immunotherapy. She sold it for millions, too, according to Fortune.com, before retiring to Johnson City where she and her husband built a home west of town. Elde was the dean of the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota before he retired a year ago to come work on their Johnson City museum.
On Feb. 14, they opened the Hill Country Science Mill, which draws tourists, families and school groups, including many from rural communities who haven’t been to a science museum, Baskin said. Although tiny Johnson City might not be the place you’d first imagine as the home for a 17,000-squarefoot science museum, Baskin said she sees it as a great central location to draw from big Texas cities and small towns.
Tourists who go from San Antonio or Austin to hit the wine trail that extends down U.S. 290 west between Johnson City and Frederickburg have been passing through the sleepy town for years, with few reasons to stop. But the museum has become a destination in itself and attracted support from the community. A 400-foot Earth Mural separating exhibits was painted by public school students of art teacher Diane Hudson of Johnson City. A Blanco high school student found a home for his 6-foot K’nex Ferris wheel built with thousands of pieces. It is an attention-getter by a window in the main lobby.
Executive Director Renee Williams, a Trinity University grad with a history degree who met Baskin while working for one of her companies in Minneapolis, said the museum has had about 24,000 visitors since its February opening.
As she walks through the museum on a recent weekend, she points out some of her favorite exhibits. The Virtual Human Body is a 60-inch touch screen that helps visitors better understand the processes inside the body with CT scan technology that produces image slices in 3-D. Among the museum’s most popular exhibits are the 3-D topographic sand box, the Fractalarium and the racecarbuilding station.
“I see adults play with the mindball a lot,” she said, referring to the table where two people strap on headbands with sensors that track brainwaves. The person who is able to focus and relax the most moves a small white ball across the table with his or her brainwaves and wins.
“We think this is a really fun place to hang out,” said Williams.