WEBVTT 00:00:09.549 --> 00:00:12.810 Hello and welcome to Good News York. It is your 00:00:12.810 --> 00:00:16.449 host Mike Brindisi. Here, not in our new studios, 00:00:16.469 --> 00:00:20.050 not yet. We're close. We're actually in the office 00:00:20.050 --> 00:00:24.910 of the president of MOST, the MOST Museum in 00:00:24.910 --> 00:00:28.309 downtown Syracuse, Mrs. Lauren Cochin. Hello 00:00:28.309 --> 00:00:31.489 Lauren. How are you? I'm good. Of course, thank 00:00:31.489 --> 00:00:34.090 you for having us. Good News York brought to 00:00:34.090 --> 00:00:37.189 you by Ads on the Go. Get ads on the go dot com. 00:00:37.429 --> 00:00:40.380 Lauren, we are here We realized on the way here. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:42.439 We're here on probably a very busy week for you 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:44.840 because there's no school Yeah, so this place 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:47.079 is rocking right now. It is busiest week of the 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:49.020 year for us typically Yeah, it took us an hour 00:00:49.020 --> 00:00:51.460 and a half to park. Oh, I'm kidding. It was an 00:00:51.460 --> 00:00:54.100 hour and a half, but Thank you for having us. 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:56.240 This place is absolutely incredible. One of the 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:01.200 first things I realized is that this is the original 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:04.519 armory that makes this the famous Armory Square. 00:01:05.060 --> 00:01:06.579 Do you want to talk a little bit about the building 00:01:06.579 --> 00:01:09.980 and the transition into how it became the most? 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:14.299 Yeah, we are the armory of Armory Square. This 00:01:14.299 --> 00:01:16.400 building really has an incredibly rich history. 00:01:17.019 --> 00:01:21.859 over 115 years old. It pretty much occupies the 00:01:21.859 --> 00:01:24.379 whole city block. It's about not quite a hundred 00:01:24.379 --> 00:01:28.120 thousand square feet. So you know firstly an 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:31.480 armory, a military building, and then it's had 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:36.819 a lot of uses since from convention style, center 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:41.450 style with The bowling Congress that we still 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:45.090 see today at the on Center the circus came through 00:01:45.090 --> 00:01:50.290 here our former NBA Nationals team before it 00:01:50.290 --> 00:01:52.450 was at what is now like the war Memorial was 00:01:52.450 --> 00:01:55.250 here So a lot of things have transpired through 00:01:55.250 --> 00:01:59.629 this building It's got incredible history and 00:01:59.629 --> 00:02:04.069 we the most has been here since the early 90s 00:02:04.069 --> 00:02:06.829 Wow The best time. Armory to Children's Museum. 00:02:07.129 --> 00:02:09.930 Armory to Children's Museum. What a 180. It's 00:02:09.930 --> 00:02:12.729 a beautiful building and as soon as you walk 00:02:12.729 --> 00:02:15.050 in the kid in you comes out because it just looks 00:02:15.050 --> 00:02:17.750 like so much fun. First of all, tell us a little 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:20.550 bit about your background and how you came to 00:02:20.550 --> 00:02:24.919 the most. Sure. Well, my background... This either 00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:27.680 makes no sense or makes perfect sense. My background 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:31.520 is actually in sports PR. Nice. So I guess there's 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:33.560 a little like entertainment. Of course, of course, 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:37.240 of course. So I studied PR and marketing at SU 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:41.500 and I worked for the Crunch, interned for SU 00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:43.900 athletics, interned for what is now the Mets. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:49.020 My first job was at the Penguins and but it turned 00:02:49.020 --> 00:02:52.020 out it just wasn't really It wasn't all that 00:02:52.020 --> 00:02:54.139 I thought it was going to be. Sports is a huge 00:02:54.139 --> 00:02:56.000 grind. The pay is terrible because everybody 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.740 wants to work in sports. And so... A lot of weekends. 00:03:00.259 --> 00:03:02.060 It is. A lot of nights. Non -stop. Non -stop. 00:03:02.500 --> 00:03:04.939 Yeah. And so I thought, you know, I'm going to 00:03:04.939 --> 00:03:08.060 come home, get my get my masters just to give 00:03:08.060 --> 00:03:11.759 me time to figure out what I wanted to do. And... 00:03:12.169 --> 00:03:14.969 And sort of I fell into a job at Syracuse Stage. 00:03:15.349 --> 00:03:17.650 It was doing marketing, audience development 00:03:17.650 --> 00:03:20.629 work. So again, similar entertainment type of 00:03:20.629 --> 00:03:24.050 stuff and still doing marketing like I was doing 00:03:24.050 --> 00:03:28.250 in sports. And I really enjoyed that, but it 00:03:28.250 --> 00:03:31.550 was a non -profit. And in doing that marketing 00:03:31.550 --> 00:03:33.650 work at Syracuse Stage, I ended up also doing 00:03:33.650 --> 00:03:37.530 fundraising work at Syracuse Stage. And it turns 00:03:37.530 --> 00:03:39.729 out I was really good at it. And what happens 00:03:39.729 --> 00:03:41.909 when you're good at fundraising for a nonprofit 00:03:41.909 --> 00:03:46.750 is you keep doing it because it's such an integral 00:03:46.750 --> 00:03:49.969 part of the nonprofit world. And also, if you're 00:03:49.969 --> 00:03:52.110 really, really good at it, you get promoted really 00:03:52.110 --> 00:03:54.930 quickly. So I went from that to being the Director 00:03:54.930 --> 00:03:57.150 of Development at Arcovada Daga, which supports 00:03:57.150 --> 00:03:59.050 people with developmental disabilities. It's 00:03:59.050 --> 00:04:02.610 a really wonderful place. And I did that for 00:04:02.610 --> 00:04:04.689 several years as well. And then I was recruited 00:04:04.689 --> 00:04:07.990 to work here for my fund development and marketing 00:04:07.990 --> 00:04:11.330 at at Arc primarily for my work in social media 00:04:11.330 --> 00:04:14.490 which this was dating myself was so long ago 00:04:14.490 --> 00:04:16.449 that a lot of people were not doing non -profit 00:04:16.449 --> 00:04:20.569 social media marketing and same thing I got promoted 00:04:20.569 --> 00:04:23.850 here from executive vice president slash development 00:04:23.850 --> 00:04:29.129 officer to president which was about six years 00:04:29.129 --> 00:04:31.589 ago. I've been here for a decade this spring. 00:04:32.209 --> 00:04:33.850 Congratulations and you know it's very fitting 00:04:33.850 --> 00:04:36.319 because You know, you were kind of joking about 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:39.040 how you went from sports and marketing to this, 00:04:39.060 --> 00:04:41.439 but you and I both know that. I mean, there's 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:44.160 definitely a lot of similarities in this. It's 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.819 entertainment and it's marketing and PR. So I 00:04:47.819 --> 00:04:51.180 think you were the perfect fit. Yeah. The place 00:04:51.180 --> 00:04:54.899 is amazing. Tell us about what is the most. I 00:04:54.899 --> 00:04:57.100 mean, obviously we know what it is, but for people 00:04:57.100 --> 00:05:00.019 that maybe aren't sure, tell us what is this 00:05:00.019 --> 00:05:03.029 place all about? So it is a science museum, but 00:05:03.029 --> 00:05:06.670 it is primarily geared towards children. Though 00:05:06.670 --> 00:05:09.310 we try very hard to make it something for everyone, 00:05:10.569 --> 00:05:12.689 particularly so that the adults are enjoying 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:15.069 it and want to bring their kids back. But in 00:05:15.069 --> 00:05:17.449 addition to being a science museum, we actually 00:05:17.449 --> 00:05:21.250 are a chartered educational institution by New 00:05:21.250 --> 00:05:25.089 York State Board of Regents. So our focus really 00:05:25.089 --> 00:05:29.949 is and our mission is informal science education. 00:05:30.670 --> 00:05:35.410 So we have fabulous interactive hands -on exhibits. 00:05:36.790 --> 00:05:39.449 Informal science education meaning we understand 00:05:39.449 --> 00:05:43.610 as educators, right, and as parents and as grandparents, 00:05:44.410 --> 00:05:47.990 kids really learn best by doing. Play is really 00:05:47.990 --> 00:05:51.490 important for a child's development. And so all 00:05:51.490 --> 00:05:54.490 the exhibits are hands -on. And all of our exhibits 00:05:54.490 --> 00:05:57.990 actually align with New York State science curriculum 00:05:57.990 --> 00:06:01.670 somehow through a K -8 curriculum for science. 00:06:02.250 --> 00:06:04.910 So kids are going to be learning something that 00:06:04.910 --> 00:06:07.350 somehow aligns with what they might be learning 00:06:07.350 --> 00:06:10.250 in school if they're in those grades, in those 00:06:10.250 --> 00:06:14.129 grade levels. So we have exhibits from simple 00:06:14.129 --> 00:06:20.019 foam building blocks to really high -tech micron 00:06:20.019 --> 00:06:23.220 exhibit and we sort of have everything in between. 00:06:23.500 --> 00:06:27.000 We have an Upstate Life Sciences exhibit where 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:29.939 kids can learn about genetics and parts of the 00:06:29.939 --> 00:06:34.199 body. We have my particular favorite exhibit, 00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:38.519 which just opened, called Onondaga Grown Presents 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:41.819 Grow, which is a farming and agriculture exhibit. 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:45.879 Oh, wonderful. It's awesome. And so, you know, 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:47.560 it's a really interactive, cool experience with 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:50.300 a farmer's market and a field where kids can 00:06:50.300 --> 00:06:53.420 learn about crop rotation and how our own indigenous 00:06:53.420 --> 00:06:57.600 community was really the innovators of agriculture. 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:01.939 And so not only is everything hands -on and it, 00:07:01.939 --> 00:07:04.459 you know, aligns with curriculum, but one of 00:07:04.459 --> 00:07:08.019 the things our museum does so well that in fact 00:07:08.019 --> 00:07:11.759 we often are going to other museums or going 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.279 to conferences and teaching other museums about 00:07:14.279 --> 00:07:19.980 it is our museum really is a reflection of our 00:07:19.980 --> 00:07:24.709 community. And so what I mean by that is you 00:07:24.709 --> 00:07:27.430 know, we might not have a Micron exhibit if Micron 00:07:27.430 --> 00:07:31.209 wasn't here or, you know, even our agriculture 00:07:31.209 --> 00:07:33.790 exhibit is really unique to Central New York 00:07:33.790 --> 00:07:37.209 Ag. You'll see a lot of things that are really 00:07:37.209 --> 00:07:41.269 relevant to Central New York. We have an exhibit 00:07:41.269 --> 00:07:43.790 called Machines and Makers, and it's all about 00:07:43.790 --> 00:07:46.310 manufacturing. Central New York is a huge manufacturing 00:07:46.310 --> 00:07:49.629 community, but within that exhibit, Tessie has 00:07:49.629 --> 00:07:55.329 a setup, Marquardt has a setup, Morris Manufacturing 00:07:55.329 --> 00:07:59.129 actually built a drum rotation thing for kids 00:07:59.129 --> 00:08:04.389 to try. It's so community relevant, which also 00:08:04.389 --> 00:08:07.990 from a business model perspective is so helpful 00:08:07.990 --> 00:08:11.129 to the museum because we're getting this financial 00:08:11.129 --> 00:08:15.589 or support to build exhibits from community partners, 00:08:15.850 --> 00:08:18.589 which is incredible. That's amazing. I love how 00:08:18.589 --> 00:08:21.600 you incorporate not only the learning aspect 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.300 which kind of you know that's going to happen 00:08:24.300 --> 00:08:26.319 when you have a science center but I like that 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:29.839 you also cultivate it you know or tailor it to 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:33.519 local I think that's wonderful and I'm wondering 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:36.159 you said you know you kind of work do you work 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:40.960 with the local educational institutions like 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:43.580 do they have to approve any of this because you 00:08:43.580 --> 00:08:46.000 know you know you have to include stuff that 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:48.129 that is things that they are learning in school 00:08:48.129 --> 00:08:50.610 or is this kind of something that you do on your 00:08:50.610 --> 00:08:54.269 own? We largely do it on our own. Our biggest 00:08:54.269 --> 00:08:56.009 department is our education department. We have 00:08:56.009 --> 00:08:59.190 about 10 people that work in the education team 00:08:59.190 --> 00:09:03.169 and they are well trained and well qualified 00:09:03.169 --> 00:09:06.830 in New York state standards. We do have a lot 00:09:06.830 --> 00:09:10.149 of programs with schools. and we do use schools 00:09:10.149 --> 00:09:12.669 as a resource. We're a non -profit, we have educators 00:09:12.669 --> 00:09:16.970 on our board, several of them. So we certainly 00:09:16.970 --> 00:09:19.710 use them as a resource, particularly if things 00:09:19.710 --> 00:09:23.169 are changing in schools, changing in education, 00:09:24.590 --> 00:09:28.730 and they are wonderful resources. We also rely 00:09:28.730 --> 00:09:32.029 on some of our community partners for support, 00:09:32.450 --> 00:09:35.419 certainly when we were... building the Micron 00:09:35.419 --> 00:09:38.600 exhibit, we actually had, and this is really 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:40.120 the first time we did this, we actually had an 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:42.799 advisory committee to build that exhibit. So 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:45.799 it wasn't just Micron engineers, but it was community 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:48.799 leaders and teachers in particular, like how 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:53.000 do we make a semiconductor engaging? That was 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:58.700 a challenge, right? What would a teacher want 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:02.570 to do in this exhibit or how do we bring chips 00:10:02.570 --> 00:10:05.929 into the classroom, right? Because teachers want 00:10:05.929 --> 00:10:07.870 to know. There's going to be how many thousands 00:10:07.870 --> 00:10:11.330 of jobs that Micron's going to have over the 00:10:11.330 --> 00:10:14.850 next decade or more. We know we want kids to 00:10:14.850 --> 00:10:16.549 have those jobs. They're high paying jobs. They 00:10:16.549 --> 00:10:18.629 have great benefits. There's this tremendous 00:10:18.629 --> 00:10:21.370 opportunity. And what we found was our local 00:10:21.370 --> 00:10:24.269 educators really, really want this opportunity 00:10:24.269 --> 00:10:28.850 for our children. The most really saw that firsthand 00:10:28.850 --> 00:10:31.409 and it was actually really inspiring to see how 00:10:31.409 --> 00:10:35.629 much teachers wanted to be a part of this. Particularly 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:37.990 because they really just saw it as this tremendous 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:40.970 opportunity that maybe in their careers they 00:10:40.970 --> 00:10:44.490 have not seen before. And so to be able to put 00:10:44.490 --> 00:10:46.490 a committee together like this that we hadn't 00:10:46.490 --> 00:10:49.769 also done before was a really incredible experience. 00:10:49.909 --> 00:10:53.139 That's amazing. Want to definitely talk about 00:10:53.139 --> 00:10:56.200 the the actual exhibits themselves, but I was 00:10:56.200 --> 00:10:57.419 wondering if you could peel the curtain back. 00:10:57.460 --> 00:11:01.500 I'm curious How much goes into? Deciding what 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:04.779 type of exhibit to have and and when are we going 00:11:04.779 --> 00:11:06.519 to turn that over and which ones are going to 00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:08.580 stay permanently? What talk about that process 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:11.019 a little bit if you don't mind there's um, I 00:11:11.019 --> 00:11:15.080 always say that With my non science background, 00:11:15.100 --> 00:11:18.419 so take that with a grain of salt. I always say 00:11:18.419 --> 00:11:21.200 that every Every good science museum for kids 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:23.840 particular should have dinosaurs, should have 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:27.600 outer space, should have like some kind of like 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:30.940 nature slash rocks. And I say that because that 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:33.600 seems to be what is what I call like the fan 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:37.000 favorites. That's what kids sort of cling on 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:40.899 to when they're little. That's what they're fascinated 00:11:40.899 --> 00:11:44.159 by. And that's what we want. We want kids to 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:48.980 get excited about science at a young age. in 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:50.879 the hopes that they will continue to be excited 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:56.399 about it forever. And so to get them excited 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:58.820 you know those are the things I think every good 00:11:58.820 --> 00:12:01.639 science museum should have. Absolutely. Right? 00:12:01.860 --> 00:12:04.519 How many kids do you know like love dinosaurs 00:12:04.519 --> 00:12:07.919 at some point? Right? Or thought outer space 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:10.100 was so cool or wanted to be an astronaut at some 00:12:10.100 --> 00:12:11.960 point? Or just love to go out and play in the 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:14.700 mud? Yeah. Right? Love nature. Absolutely. So 00:12:14.889 --> 00:12:19.230 So we have all those things, right? We have a 00:12:19.230 --> 00:12:22.730 dino zone. We have a planetarium. And outside 00:12:22.730 --> 00:12:24.629 the planetarium, we have a lot of space things, 00:12:24.970 --> 00:12:28.110 including we're a designated NASA community site, 00:12:28.149 --> 00:12:31.730 which is very cool. We have a lot of things with 00:12:31.730 --> 00:12:34.309 nature throughout exhibits. And then every month, 00:12:34.350 --> 00:12:38.269 we do a huge Earth month celebration and festival. 00:12:39.690 --> 00:12:44.139 And then in addition to that, you know, for us, 00:12:44.700 --> 00:12:47.179 there are certain criteria we have for exhibits. 00:12:47.799 --> 00:12:50.759 I came into a permanent collection that really 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:52.700 touched on a lot of topics, and I think the most 00:12:52.700 --> 00:12:55.559 in particular has a robust collection. So we 00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:58.580 do have sort of the engineering -based build 00:12:58.580 --> 00:13:04.799 types of things. We have, you know, the farming 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:08.000 exhibit. We have, you know, life sciences, all 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:12.379 of those kinds of things. So it's pretty... It 00:13:12.379 --> 00:13:15.559 covers a lot of topics in STEM. Some of the things 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:18.500 we didn't have, of course, the Micron exhibit. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:22.779 One of the things that we kind of have, we're 00:13:22.779 --> 00:13:26.299 still working on, we sort of struggle with, is 00:13:26.299 --> 00:13:31.659 the math part of STEM. So right now we have what 00:13:31.659 --> 00:13:34.600 we call play. It's just games. computational 00:13:34.600 --> 00:13:38.179 thinking, that kind of a thing. To get the M 00:13:38.179 --> 00:13:41.759 in a museum, to make math fun, to meet our criteria, 00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:45.779 fun, engaging, the community relevance piece, 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:48.340 the curriculum piece, to meet all those criteria, 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:52.320 especially meeting the fun and engaging piece 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:54.820 would probably cost us between half a million 00:13:54.820 --> 00:13:56.500 and three quarters of a million dollars for a 00:13:56.500 --> 00:13:58.940 permanent exhibit. So we're not doing the M right 00:13:58.940 --> 00:14:04.019 now. So the board game suffice. The good thing 00:14:04.019 --> 00:14:08.039 is the kids love it. So something like that I 00:14:08.039 --> 00:14:12.419 would say is lacking or missing. But other than 00:14:12.419 --> 00:14:15.299 that we really do have a pretty robust collection 00:14:15.299 --> 00:14:19.639 that I think meets what I would call the standard 00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:21.919 for a science museum. That's wonderful. You've 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:24.759 touched on some of the exhibits. Let's get into 00:14:24.759 --> 00:14:27.200 the details. What are some of your favorite exhibits 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:32.840 and how large is this place, first of all? The 00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:36.580 exhibits on the floor and our Exploradome take 00:14:36.580 --> 00:14:41.139 up about 35 to 40 ,000 square feet. Wow. So yeah, 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:44.559 it's a pretty big museum, covers, you know, sort 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:47.649 of covers about three floors. lower level main 00:14:47.649 --> 00:14:51.190 floor and mezzanine. And then we have a National 00:14:51.190 --> 00:14:56.129 Grid Exploradome. So that is a theater with a 00:14:56.129 --> 00:14:59.690 domed screen. It's got a digital laser projection 00:14:59.690 --> 00:15:04.070 system. So the image on the screen is incredible. 00:15:04.409 --> 00:15:07.980 The sound is incredible. And the dome, you know, 00:15:08.139 --> 00:15:09.860 makes it this immersive experience. It's like 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:12.840 the Sphere in Vegas. It's at the Armory right 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:15.340 here. Almost as cool, too, right? It is almost 00:15:15.340 --> 00:15:19.700 as cool. And on that we do, you know, we do documentaries, 00:15:20.419 --> 00:15:23.879 but the dome obviously is very cool for planetarium 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:27.120 shows. And so we do shows every hour and a half 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.559 hour. That's amazing. Yeah, it is. It's very 00:15:29.559 --> 00:15:31.559 cool. Well, let's talk about the Micron exhibit 00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:33.480 because that's exciting. Everybody's talking 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:36.500 about Micron around here for... obvious reasons, 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:38.559 one of the biggest things to happen in the area 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:40.799 in a very long time. What can we expect from 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:43.879 the Micron exhibit? It is really cool. It is 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:48.519 the first of its kind in the world. So we really 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:52.179 had a fun time making this with Micron. You get 00:15:52.179 --> 00:15:57.419 to see actually what that entire huge campus 00:15:57.419 --> 00:15:59.379 is going to look like. I think they have like 00:15:59.379 --> 00:16:02.100 four to six buildings, each one of them the size 00:16:02.100 --> 00:16:06.179 of you know six football fields. So the campus 00:16:06.179 --> 00:16:09.620 itself is going to be extraordinarily large and 00:16:09.620 --> 00:16:13.639 you we have sort of that we have the the site 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:16.320 the original site that they built right there 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:18.659 in the exhibit. And like I said, it's sort of 00:16:18.659 --> 00:16:22.679 hard to make that interactive. So what we have 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:25.480 is you can walk in and you sort of take a tour 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:28.139 of what the inside of a chip looks like. We have 00:16:28.139 --> 00:16:30.879 a lot of huge touch screens where you can learn 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:36.299 about different things about chips, memory making, 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:40.679 the manufacturing of it. The idea behind this 00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:47.320 was let's deconstruct what memory is, what semiconductors 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:51.820 are, let's like help kids understand that everything 00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:54.840 that you do in your everyday life has a chip 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:58.559 in it, right? And so really everything they touch, 00:16:58.820 --> 00:17:01.559 everything they use from healthcare to video 00:17:01.559 --> 00:17:06.160 games to their phones. And then we get a little 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:10.160 bit into sort of the chemistry. behind it in 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:12.420 the exhibit and a little bit about the careers 00:17:12.420 --> 00:17:15.240 too obviously you know the job piece is really 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:17.799 important to them it's important to the community 00:17:17.799 --> 00:17:23.240 workforce development in general is huge to our 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:29.099 museum because we live in what I consider a stem 00:17:29.099 --> 00:17:32.960 region as far as careers go so that's a huge 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.680 focus for us on all of our programming so there's 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:39.490 a little bit of that in there too. then because 00:17:39.490 --> 00:17:41.450 the interactivity piece was a bit of a challenge 00:17:41.450 --> 00:17:44.609 every day at noon we have what we call the Micron 00:17:44.609 --> 00:17:47.369 skills bar where we send actually one of our 00:17:47.369 --> 00:17:50.130 education staffers in there to do some games 00:17:50.130 --> 00:17:53.089 with the kids. Oh I love it. A couple more questions 00:17:53.089 --> 00:17:54.930 looking out here because I know you're very busy. 00:17:56.329 --> 00:17:58.750 This seems to be a very busy time because school 00:17:58.750 --> 00:18:02.309 is off. What is your busiest, like, what's your 00:18:02.309 --> 00:18:04.670 Super Bowl? What is your, like, we're preparing 00:18:04.670 --> 00:18:07.430 for this time of the year? You're here for it. 00:18:07.529 --> 00:18:10.309 This is it? Yeah, we consider ourselves, yeah, 00:18:10.569 --> 00:18:12.150 you're right, in prime time. Perfect. We planned 00:18:12.150 --> 00:18:15.789 it that way. Yeah, right. We consider ourselves, 00:18:15.849 --> 00:18:19.690 we call ourselves sort of the cold weather destination 00:18:19.690 --> 00:18:23.809 for kids. You know, this is a great place for... 00:18:25.849 --> 00:18:27.970 if they're looking for something to do with their 00:18:27.970 --> 00:18:30.190 kids or grandparents are looking for something 00:18:30.190 --> 00:18:34.109 to do, and even schools. A lot of schools will 00:18:34.109 --> 00:18:36.349 bring their students in the spring for field 00:18:36.349 --> 00:18:41.099 trips to avoid snow days, to avoid... hauling 00:18:41.099 --> 00:18:43.079 all the kids on the bus in wild weather, but 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:46.720 we are open, even though we're only open to the 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:49.660 public four days a week, we are open to schools 00:18:49.660 --> 00:18:52.279 and community groups seven days a week. So we 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:54.660 do have school groups in here every day all year 00:18:54.660 --> 00:18:56.460 long. I was gonna ask if you get a lot of field 00:18:56.460 --> 00:18:59.779 trips, I assume. We do, yeah. Some are like the 00:18:59.779 --> 00:19:02.440 good old -fashioned just book a field trip and 00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:04.359 hop on the bus with your students and some are 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:08.099 actually really set programs where we are you 00:19:08.099 --> 00:19:11.079 know instead of a school just sort of running 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:14.079 through and having fun some of them are really 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:17.059 sort of pre -planned where we provide a program 00:19:17.059 --> 00:19:20.799 or a workshop in addition to all the good field 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:23.319 trip fun that you'd expect. Do you guys host 00:19:23.319 --> 00:19:25.740 any private events or birthday parties? Do you 00:19:25.740 --> 00:19:28.960 do anything like that? Yep, we do. We host really 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:31.759 fun, I'm a little biased of course, we host really 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:36.099 fun birthday parties. We have four a day on weekends 00:19:36.099 --> 00:19:40.339 and they're a lot of fun because kids get to 00:19:40.339 --> 00:19:42.700 pick their little science demo workshops. You 00:19:42.700 --> 00:19:44.519 can do bubbles, you can do slime, you can do 00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:48.309 dinosaurs. The birthday party admission is all 00:19:48.309 --> 00:19:51.569 day long. So we always have a lot of kids running 00:19:51.569 --> 00:19:53.789 around from a birthday party here on weekends. 00:19:54.950 --> 00:19:59.109 And every program that we do, we do a lot of 00:19:59.109 --> 00:20:03.690 programs outside of the exhibits. Usually admission 00:20:03.690 --> 00:20:05.990 is free if you register your child for one of 00:20:05.990 --> 00:20:08.230 our STEM education programs. So if your kid is 00:20:08.230 --> 00:20:10.009 signed up for something, let's say on a Saturday 00:20:10.009 --> 00:20:12.890 morning from 10 to 11. They can stay all day 00:20:12.890 --> 00:20:15.190 and have fun at the museum. That's amazing. I 00:20:15.190 --> 00:20:16.789 want to get the plugs from you before we go, 00:20:16.890 --> 00:20:20.210 but also, is there anything you want to mention? 00:20:20.309 --> 00:20:23.269 Any events or special events coming up or anything 00:20:23.269 --> 00:20:26.069 that you want to kind of advertise or plug or 00:20:26.069 --> 00:20:29.210 market? You know what? Well, I think the most 00:20:29.210 --> 00:20:31.009 important thing that I always want to make a 00:20:31.009 --> 00:20:36.349 plug for is to become a Most Member. Membership... 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:39.119 There's four different levels of becoming a member 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:42.099 individual all the way through the household 00:20:42.099 --> 00:20:46.680 premiere. So when you become a member you get 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:49.359 in free to the museum all year long, and there's 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:51.440 all kinds of extra perks. Discounts on camps, 00:20:52.019 --> 00:20:55.519 discounts on birthday parties, and on the National 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:57.839 Grid Explorer Room. It comes with free, you couldn't 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:00.079 find parking, guess what? You would've had free 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.400 parking in the lot behind the museum. What the 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:06.440 heck. Which is good for our hours when we're 00:21:06.440 --> 00:21:08.900 open. So there's tons of great perks to being 00:21:08.900 --> 00:21:12.000 a member, and all of that revenue really helps 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:14.920 support the most. We are a non -profit, and half 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:19.240 of our... annual budget is through donations. 00:21:20.019 --> 00:21:22.440 And so memberships are really, really an important 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:26.619 part of our annual operating. These are yearly 00:21:26.619 --> 00:21:28.339 memberships? Yeah, they're good for 12 months. 00:21:28.339 --> 00:21:31.339 Great. And memberships are as low as I think 00:21:31.339 --> 00:21:34.500 $69 to start and they're good for a year. Awesome. 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:36.779 In addition to the regular plugs, I want you 00:21:36.779 --> 00:21:38.859 to give us, you know, websites, any information 00:21:38.859 --> 00:21:42.099 you want, social media, but also how can people 00:21:42.099 --> 00:21:44.519 get involved and help donate to this amazing 00:21:44.519 --> 00:21:47.609 place? Well, you know what, the best place to 00:21:47.609 --> 00:21:51.410 donate is most .org and there's lots of ways 00:21:51.410 --> 00:21:53.869 to donate. You can just give us your cash, that's 00:21:53.869 --> 00:21:57.309 fabulous. You can come to one of our fundraisers. 00:21:57.470 --> 00:22:01.990 We have three fabulous fundraisers. We just had 00:22:01.990 --> 00:22:06.349 chocolate discovery where in sort of a Valentine's 00:22:06.349 --> 00:22:08.289 Day type of celebration we have a chocolate. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:12.339 and champagne tasting, followed by a, right? 00:22:12.460 --> 00:22:15.160 I am addicted to chocolates. This is the best. 00:22:15.339 --> 00:22:18.259 Sweet on Chocolate provides this incredible chocolate 00:22:18.259 --> 00:22:20.960 tasting, thousands of samples. And then we have 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.839 a Star -Crossed Lovers planetarium show in the 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:25.779 National Grid Explorer Dome. The next one up 00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:29.339 is in June, and that is Savoring Science. That 00:22:29.339 --> 00:22:32.660 is our sort of gala that we host at Lemongrass. 00:22:33.099 --> 00:22:35.619 Our beer tasting is one of the best in town, 00:22:35.859 --> 00:22:38.380 tapping to the most in September. And then we 00:22:38.380 --> 00:22:42.079 have other smaller fundraisers. Celebrity bartending 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:44.259 is coming up. We always celebrate St. Patrick's 00:22:44.259 --> 00:22:48.240 Day at Kitty Hoynes. That one is on March 12th. 00:22:48.420 --> 00:22:51.799 Our celebrities are Senator Chris Ryan. Alex 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:54.900 Canavan, who runs the CNY Women's Network, and 00:22:54.900 --> 00:22:57.559 Jim Cirosi, who is the COO of the Syracuse Crunch. 00:22:57.660 --> 00:23:00.079 Love Jim. So fabulous lineup. We keep the tips. 00:23:00.700 --> 00:23:03.140 We always celebrate also, of course we do because 00:23:03.140 --> 00:23:06.200 we're science nerds, pretty geeky over here. 00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:09.500 We always celebrate May the 4th with a Star Wars 00:23:09.500 --> 00:23:13.380 movie. Love it. So that one will be Saturday, 00:23:13.500 --> 00:23:16.000 May 2nd this year. So we do a movie, a happy 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.980 hour. And again, that's sort of a smaller fundraiser, 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:22.359 but all great ways to support the most. That's 00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:24.220 awesome. And give us your social media handle. 00:23:24.599 --> 00:23:26.200 So because we know you can go to the most dot 00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:28.180 org. Yeah. Give us your social. Everything is 00:23:28.180 --> 00:23:31.220 at most Syracuse. That's perfect. Nice and easy. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:35.940 Lauren Cochin, president of is it the most museum 00:23:35.940 --> 00:23:39.740 or just most? Most. President of most. Science 00:23:39.740 --> 00:23:43.519 Center, museum, just amazing. All of it. Everything. 00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:46.339 Right in downtown Syracuse. Thank you so much 00:23:46.339 --> 00:23:48.279 for your time. I really appreciate it. This was 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:51.240 so much fun. Mike Rennessy signing off on this 00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:53.940 Tuesday. Is it Tuesday? Yeah. Tuesday edition 00:23:53.940 --> 00:23:57.339 of Good News York. You can find us at Good News 00:23:57.339 --> 00:23:59.839 York on all social media. GoodNewsYork .com. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:02.500 New episodes air at 5 p .m. Eastern, Monday through 00:24:02.500 --> 00:24:04.359 Thursday. And you can follow me on socials at 00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:07.000 MikeBTV. Brought to you by Ads on the Go. Get 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:09.470 ads on the go dot com. Thanks for joining us 00:24:09.470 --> 00:24:11.490 here at most.