Prince William Students Celebrate Science and a Ribbon Cutting

for the SciencePort Science Center

WOODBRIDGE — Belmont Elementary School students take the reflex challenge and find out if they’re brave enough to touch a corn snake. They test a water sample using the latest high tech tools. The students join state and local officials as they get a taste of the new science center coming to Northern Virginia. It’s all at the SciencePort Science Center Ribbon Cutting at Belmont Elementary School on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

“This is the beginning of a 170,000 square foot science center we plan for Northern Virginia,” says SciencePort Science Center Executive Director Jack Parry. “The future science center will be within eyeshot of Belmont Elementary. It’s going to be vastly different from the three temporary classrooms we are moving into today. But the science experiences we are sharing today are a sample of what the exciting experiences the future holds.”

The actual ceremony begins at noon in Belmont Elementary Multi-Purpose room. The ribbon is cut by dignitaries and students who have been named the school’s Good Citizen of the Month. Belmont Elementary fifth graders provide music. The room is lined with BioExpress exhibits. This is where students can test their reflexes, balance and strength. BioExpress is a Science Museum of Virginia outreach program that visits schools across the state with its interactive exhibits and programs. Students tour with a Safety Patrol member to see the EAGLES Center, which is the Science Center’s temporary space. That’s where they find interactive experiences with corn snakes and hissing cockroaches. These activities are supervised by Science Museum of Virginia Gallery Educator David Olli. The EAGLES Center is also where they find a computer lab with high tech water testing activities and a meeting lab with more information about the SciencePort Science Center.

SciencePort Science Center is a division of the Science Museum of Virginia. Center plans call for exhibition galleries, school programs, continuing educational programs for adults and learning resources. The center will focus on technology, physical sciences and life sciences. Both informal and formal programs for school-aged children will be aligned with Virginia’s Standards of Learning. George Mason University plans to establish a presence in the Science Center with research laboratories and classrooms.

The Science Center is to be built on five acres in SciencePort Town Center in Woodbridge. The riverside site is where the Occoquan and Potomac rivers meet and is adjacent to the new Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Plans also call for a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gallery about the refuge.

Virginia voters have approved $5 million for construction. An additional $589,000 has been awarded by the federal government. Land for the center has been offered by SciencePort developer Preston Caruthers. The SciencePort Science Center Foundation Board is starting work to raise more than $100 million to finance construction, fund programs, build research laboratories and classrooms for George Mason University and establish an endowment fund. Current plans call for the facility to be up and running in late 2007.

For SciencePort Science Center information call 1-866-201-2812. Log on to www.bblsc.org to access the SciencePort Science Center Web site. Belmont Elementary School and the SciencePort Science Center are located at 751 Norwood Lane in Woodbridge.

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