×

Area science center looks to wow with remodeling

OH WOW! reopens Saturday after $600,000 renovation

Staff photo / R. Michael Semple Danielle Kane of Austintown, an EDUtainer at OH WOW! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science & Technology in downtown Youngstown, demonstrates the colorful A-mazing Airwaves exhibit at the center last week. The center will reopen Saturday after being shuttered for more than a year because of the pandemic.

YOUNGSTOWN — OH WOW! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science & Technology has a new address, but it didn’t move.

Shifting its main entrance to the L-shaped former McCrory building from West Federal Street to Central Square is one of several changes as part of a $600,000 renovation project at the center, which will reopen to the public Saturday.

Visitors also will find new attractions and an expanded retail shop, and the decision to move its offices to the second floor increases available space by about 2,500 square feet.

“We’re pretty happy with how everything turned out,” President and Executive Director Suzanne Barbati said.

An expansion project already was in the planning stages and a feasibility study was commissioned three years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the timetable.

“In one way, there was a silver lining in COVID-19, being able to initiate construction,” Barbati said. “However, COVID-19 made the whole construction process much more difficult.”

The Boston-area architecture firm hired because of its expertise in working with children’s museums was unable to visit OH WOW! in person, due to more-strict travel restrictions in Massachusetts. All of the meetings with the architects took place online.

Doing the the renovations during the pandemic didn’t have a significant effect on the cost. Initially budgeted for about $500,000, with change orders the final cost will be closer to $600,000.

“That’s within the revenue stream allocated for it,” Barbati said. “We knew $500,000 was optimistic.”

CHANGES

The first change visitors will notice is the Central Square entrance, which will be safer for arriving visitors.

“When people would come to the entrance on West Federal street, they would stop on the street and discharge passengers,” Barbati said. “Buses would stop there and discharge passengers, and the people behind them would go around into the other lane of traffic. It was terrifying.”

Right inside the new entrance is a shop three times the size of the original retail space. It will stock OH WOW! merchandise, educational toys and items on consignment from other local businesses. The shop will be accessible without paying admission to the center, and it is expected to provide an additional source of revenue for OH WOW!

“Based on the formulas we’ve been given, on average 50 cents to a dollar will be spent per visitor,” Barbati said. “This year, based on the days open, we expect about 50,000 visitors this year, so that’s about $50,000.”

Some past attractions have been moved, like A-mazing Airwaves, which has been redesigned and now fills much of the wall where the old entrance was. Others have gotten a fresh coat of paint or a touch up, such as the Avionics WOW! Zone.

Joining old favorites will be new interactive exhibits like House of Shine.

“We wanted to promote good mental health, but how can we project that and encourage that in an appropriate manner for children,” Barbati said. “House of Shine is all about celebrating who you are, and why who you are is important … I love this idea because you’re so focused on what you didn’t accomplish and what you didn’t do that we don’t celebrate enough. House of Shine is about celebrating the things that make us what we are.”

It also includes an art installation of assorted yellow objects against a bright yellow wall that is certain to be a popular backdrop for photographs.

Replacing the front desk at the old entrance will be a microelectronics station created in collaboration with Youngstown State University.

Kelli Young, senior EDUtainer at OH WOW!, said, “Kids will get to learn the basics about coding.”

A Sensory Sensitive Room allows children to explore their senses and learn about the world around them.

ITS MISSION

While OH WOW! was closed to visitors for 14 months due to the pandemic, it continued its mission providing education entertainment for children by creating science activity kits used by parents and teachers working with kids from home.

“One way to stay relevant to the community was to bring the museum in a box to your house, to your school, to your community,” Director of Education Ralf Urbach said. “We really got good at becoming manufacturing production specialists and bag packers.”

With that need in mind, a multipurpose space on the lower level of the McCrory building is being used as a production space where volunteers can help assemble those STEM SAKs while remaining socially distanced. And, Urbach said, they devoted more attention to research and development, creating projects for children to do at home.

OH WOW! will have limited hours and limited capacity when it reopens. The science center will have two sessions 9 to 11 a.m. and noon to 2 p.m. four days per week. Visitors are encouraged to register in advance at ohwowkids.org so no one has to be turned away. At 25 percent capacity, OH WOW! can accommodate about 125 people, including staff and volunteers. Masks are required.

But OH WOW! also is looking toward a return to normalcy as the year progresses. Silly Science Sunday, which draws thousands of children and their families to downtown Youngstown, is scheduled for Sept. 19, and the popular adult fundraiser, the Science of Brewing, is on the calendar for Aug. 6.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
     

Starting at $4.85/week.

Subscribe Today