Kid's Night at SRAC - by Emma Miran

Ashley Baumunk playing Dino Bingo at Kid's Night at SRAC

SRAC is so very lucky to be manned by so many talented people. Emma Miran is one of our newest volunteers who is a college student and wanted to do something meaningful with her summer. Lucky for us, she chose SRAC as the place to do it! One of the many tasks she has volunteered to take on is helping me with PR duties, and below you will see her write up for last night's kid Night held at SRAC:

May 2, 2008 - Kid’s Night Out at SRAC

On May 2, 2008, the Susquehanna River Archaeological Center (SRAC) for Native Indian Studies held its monthly Kid's Night Out. Think of it as a night at the museum, filled with stations for kids consisting of erupting volcanoes, fossil dig, dinosaur bingo, plaster fossils, and fossil identification. Pam from Waverly, along with her grandson Felix age 6, said it was exciting to see all the fossils. So what made the night so special?

As the name suggests, Kids Night Out was not only intended for kids, it was run by kids. Amanda Kllvekorn and Maggi Mohonski, both age 12, helped manage the Fossil Dig. The girls assisted in sifting sand to find shells and small fossils. Maggi said, “It’s great to come and help out. I really like to see all the other kids.”

Kids were invited to identify different fossils
and to look at them under magnification

Another key participant was Ariel Walter, age eleven, of Athens, PA. Ariel is a member of the Junior Girl Scout Troup 386 of Sayre and Athens. A few months ago, Ariel was looking for a project that she could complete for her Girl Scout bronze medal. One thing she found interesting was science and volcanoes. So she built an erupting volcano. The volcano was originally displayed at the Gem and Mineral Show, and now it is at SRAC. Ariel enthusiastically showed how the volcano worked and explained the other stations at the event.

Ariel Walter, age eleven, of Athens, PA with her erupting volcano

Raffles were also drawn using admission tickets all night long and many walked away with great gifts as well as their own self made fossils and other goodies from the "dig"area! Here are SRAC's Inga and Kyle announcing one of the winners last night:


There were around 60-some kids and 40-some adults in all that attended the first Kid's Night at SRAC.

Ingenuity, education, and science were the overall mood. Importantly, Kid’s Night Out was made possible through dedication of volunteers who facilitated and planned. The event illustrated the passion and dedication of people and community. For more on future Kid’s Nights and other upcoming events, visit http://www.sracenter.org/events.

Hope to see you there!

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~~Special thanks to Emma Miran for a wonderful job writing up the event for us!