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Colburn Earth Science Museum Expansion Project Underway!

The Colburn Earth Science Museum in Asheville, NC provides science education and museum services to Buncombe County and visitors from near and far. Last year, they saw 34,028 people through the museum and provided 27,491 hours of science education to almost 10,000 school students. One of their exhibits in the Grove Stone Earth Center – named after Hedrick Industries’ mine quarry in Swannanoa, Grove Stone – features North Carolina’s geology. Our partnership goes beyond the walls of the museum to quarry field trips that we host for the Colburn’s educational camps. Needless to say, Hedrick Industries is excited about the new opportunity for science education to grow in our community!

The Colburn has been situated in the bottom level of Pack Place, but is now planning to expand and become the Asheville Museum of Science (AMOS) by spring of 2016. The new name is intended to encompass a broader scope of the museum’s offerings, with attention to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Their goal is to grow as a science museum in order to offer the best experience to our region’s schools, families, educators, businesses, and tourists. Their new location will be in the heart of downtown Asheville, where they will have twice as much space for exhibits and classrooms to increase public engagement and attendance. To make the move in a sustainable manner they need $1,200,000 for proper renovations, funded from corporate sponsors, museum members, grants and donations.

62% of current NC jobs require STEM skills that only 21% of graduating students possess. As an aggregate industry, Hedrick Industries would not excel without the development this arena. We are excited about the prospect that AMOS will expose children early on to science education, so businesses like our own can thrive in the future.

For more about their campaign or to donate to the project, visit their website HERE