STORY BY BENJAMIN LERNER
FourScienceVT
“ Curiosity has the power to change the world in extraordinary ways .” According to the Montshire Museum of Science ’ s Executive Director Marcos Stafne , this philosophy perfectly summarizes the importance of the work being done by FourScienceVT .
In March of 2020 , the executive directors
of four different Vermont-based science education nonprofits – Echo , Leahy Center for Lake Champlain , Montshire Museum of Science , Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium , and Vermont Institute for Natural Science – opened up lines of direct communication with each other to discuss how to address the challenges that they were collectively facing .
Following weeks of fruitful collaborative exchange , the four institutions formalized their cooperative partnership in April of 2020 with the public unveiling of the FourScienceVT campaign . Working together , the member organizations of the newly formed consortium created innovative new virtual learning experiences and redesigned their in-person museum exhibits to ensure the continued safety of their guests . By joining forces to achieve their common goals , the four science museums were able to successfully reinvent themselves in a time of unprecedented change .
PHOTO COURTESY FourScienceVT Echo
46 VERMONT MAGAZINE