Oak Ridge Today

New healthy living exhibit opens at Children’s Museum on Saturday

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Children will find plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables to encourage healthy eating and many suggestions for movement to keep them fit when the new Kids in Action! Healthy Living exhibit opens Saturday, April 22, 2017 at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

Children will find plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables to encourage healthy eating and many suggestions for movement to keep them fit when the new Kids in Action! Healthy Living exhibit opens Saturday, April 22, 2017 at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

 

Children will find plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables to encourage healthy eating and many suggestions for movement to keep them fit when a new exhibit opens Saturday at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The Kids in Action! Healthy Living exhibit opens with a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 22, in the east wing of the Museum. The exhibit opening will feature special activities in the gym and drawings for door prizes throughout the day, with one week of summer camp as the grand door prize. The museum is open until 4 p.m. Saturday.

A members’ sneak preview of the new exhibit will be held from 5-7 p.m. Friday at the museum, which is at 461 West Outer Drive in Oak Ridge. Museum visitors may join that evening if they wish to participate in the sneak preview.

“The exhibit is an opportunity for kids to learn through play where their food comes from. We have a henhouse and a farmers’ market. Children and families can learn about making healthy food choices,” Beth Shea, the museum’s executive director, said of the “Healthy Eating” part of the exhibit.

The “Healthy Activity” section of the exhibit encourages kids and families to keep healthy and fit through exercise and movement. [Read more…]

Tea Thyme Favorites Valentine Tea at Old Towne Inn is Feb. 11 in Oak Ridge

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Tea Thyme Favorites Valentine Tea

Mary Ann Damos, right, and Carroll Welch are pictured above. (Submitted photo)

 

By Mary Ann Damos

On Saturday, February 11, at noon, an elegant ladies’ tea party by Tea Thyme Favorites will be held in Oak Ridge at the Old Towne Inn. Step back in time to a 1920s scene from Downton Abbey, a time when women first experienced a new freedom in their lives and in fashion during the changing times.

You and your friends are welcome to share in Tea Thyme Favorites and specialty teas at the lovely Old Town Inn. Mouthwatering savories include: ribbons of cucumber topping, mounds of chicken salad, delicious ham salad, and creamy egg salad garnished with fresh herbs and greens. Cheese crisps and mini-Quiche Lorraines will also adorn the table. For sweetness, enjoy chocolate heart brownies, cranberry scones, and pink sweetheart cookies. [Read more…]

Letter: Former Children’s Museum director endorses Dodson for City Council

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To the Editor:

I strongly endorse Jim Dodson as a candidate for the Oak Ridge City Council. During the 19 years that I have known Jim, I have always found him to have the good of the community at heart. While serving as executive director of Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, collaborating with Jim was always a highlight. His fairness and sincerity are outstanding qualities that I have experienced and observed through the years. He has the ability to draw people together and is extremely adept at working with a group to accomplish set goals.

He has worked with Children’s Museum staff to bring educational experiences to the children of our area and served on the museum’s Board of Trustees. His educational endeavors are known throughout the state, accordingly earning him several well-deserved honors for his work. [Read more…]

Partnership benefits Children’s Museum, model railroaders

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Knoxville-Area-Model-Railroaders-Tutt-Acly-December-2015

Brad Tutt, left, and Peter Acly, with the Knoxville Area Model Railroaders, run a model of the American Freedom Train at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. The train with its steam engine is a replica of the 1976 train that carried symbols of America throughout the country to celebrate its 200th birthday. (Submitted photo)

 

Larry Burkholder grew up next to the railroad tracks in Portsmouth, Ohio, where the mainlines of the Norfolk and Western Railroad guided thundering steam engines through town.

“I spent a lot of time next to the tracks, to the consternation of my parents. It just got into my blood back then, all the big and smoky steam engines. You’d stand beside them and cinders would blow down on you head,” Burkholder recalled. That childhood experience inspired a lifelong interest in model railroading, though it wasn’t until he retired that he had the time and space to set up a train layout in his basement.

He joined the Knoxville Area Model Railroaders soon after that, and the donation of an extensive model train layout by Milton Lloyd and his family to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge kicked off a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship linking the museum with Burkholder and the model railroaders. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum names new executive director

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Childrens-Museum-Oak-Ridge-Beth-Shea-December-2015-Gala

Beth Shea is pictured above at a Children’s Museum gala in December 2015. (Submitted photo)

 

Beth Shea, who has worked with the Illinois State Museum for almost 21 years, will become the new director of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge on Monday, January 4. She was formerly the education director with the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, supervising the museum’s educational programs, visitor services, and volunteer program.

Shea brings an expertise in creating and implementing museum school and public education programs. She helped create the play-themed children’s area in the lower level of the museum, and has worked on many projects as a member of the museum’s exhibition team. She brings experience in grant writing and in building partnerships with community groups to the Children’s Museum. She has also worked as an education associate at the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News.

“The search committee and the museum board found that her experience as a museum professional and her ability to relate to people made her the best choice as new director,” said Tom Beehan, Children’s Museum board president. The search committee conducted a national search during a three-month period to hire the new director, Beehan said, and received applications from a number of good candidates. [Read more…]

Mary Ann Damos retires as Children’s Museum director

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Mary-Ann-Damos-Tom-Beehan-Warren-Gooch-Dec-21-2015

Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, right, presented Mary Ann Damos with a City Council resolution thanking her for her leadership and service. At left is Tom Beehan, chair of the Children’s Museum board. (Submitted photo)

 

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge has blossomed under the leadership of Executive Director Mary Ann Damos, with added exhibits inside and improved grounds outside. One literal example is the once-overgrown back yard that’s now a blooming and attractive learning garden inviting children to grow, harvest, and cook the garden’s bounty.

Damos is retiring at the end of this year after 10 years as director and nearly 20 years with the museum. The Kids Go Green! Environmental Learning Center and Garden is one of her favorite areas of the museum and among the improvements she is most proud of.

“The garden transformed our building,” Damos said. “Plus, it teaches the children about the environment, to have concern for the earth, which is really important. The garden has become a part of events and activities throughout the museum. In the summer, for example, all the camps use the garden, whether for arts or sciences.”

Damos is spending her last weeks at the museum finishing some grant requests. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum awarded $137,108 grant by museum institute

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Healthy Living Exhibit

 

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded $137,108 to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge this month.

The museum will use the grant funds to develop its new Kids in Action! Healthy Living Exhibit and programs. Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will plan, develop, and construct “Kids in Action,” a healthy living exhibit and accompanying educational programs to support healthy nutrition, healthy activity, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, and community wellness, a press release said. [Read more…]

Former Oak Ridge rowing director could lead ORCVB

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Marc DeRose

Marc DeRose

Note: This story was updated at 5:55 p.m.

A former Oak Ridge rowing director could become the next executive director of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The ORCVB board of directors on Thursday voted 4-3 to offer the job to Marc A. DeRose, subject to reference checks. If hired, DeRose will replace former longtime director Katy Brown, who became ORCVB president in 2006 and left in July to take a new marketing and promotions job covering Knoxville and Chattanooga.

DeRose was hired by the Oak Ridge Rowing Association in August 2013, and he resigned from his head coach and rowing director position in May of this year, saying the job was “not the right fit for me and my family,” the ORRA said in a press release this spring.

Other candidates for the ORCVB job, which offers a starting salary of $45,000 per year, were Lila Wilson, director of special events for the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center in Townsend, and Naomi Asher, executive director of CASA of the Tennessee Heartland. ORCVB board members said Asher withdrew her application, saying she wanted to continue working for CASA.

Wilson received three votes on Thursday, picking up one less than DeRose’s four. [Read more…]

ORCVB board elects new officers

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Aaron Wells

Aaron Wells

The Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau board of directors elected a new slate of officers at its regularly scheduled meeting in February. Aaron Wells was elected chairperson, Mark Harvey will serve as vice chairperson, and Patti Shelton will serve as secretary/treasurer, a press release said. They will each hold their respective positions until January 2015.

The board is comprised of seven community volunteers and three hotel representatives, and it is appointed by the Oak Ridge City Council. Remaining members are Carol Smallridge, Mary Ann Damos, Hugh Ward, Troy Patel, Gretchen Julius, and Misty Williams. There is currently one vacancy.

The ORCVB is a nonprofit organization, formed to strengthen the area economy through the marketing and promotion of Oak Ridge as a destination for meetings, business, and leisure travel. Visit them online at oakridgevisitor.com or call (865) 482-7821 for more information.

B&W Y-12 donates $10K to Children’s Museum

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B&W Y-12 Check Presentation to Children's Museum

B&W Y-12 Public Affairs Manager Jud Simmons discusses ongoing projects with Mary Ann Damos, executive director of the Oak Ridge Children’s Museum, in the museum’s environmental center and gardens. (Submitted photo)

B&W Y-12 recently donated $10,000 to the Children’s Museum in Oak Ridge. The funds will support the museum’s programs, including its planned Healthy Living exhibit.

“B&W Y-12’s support has been invaluable to the museum,” said Mary Ann Damos, the museum’s executive director. “The financial donations have helped us provide more and better services to the area’s children, but the hands-on donations of manpower also have been helpful.”

B&W Y-12 employees and their families have donated their time and skills on various museum projects for the past 10 years, including painting, planting, and repairs and maintenance to the museum’s heating and air conditioning system. [Read more…]