JC Breakfast Optimist Club members received a report Wednesday on the Summer Camp at the Museum this week. Patsy Johnson, Geary County Historical Society Director of Programs and Education, said her goal is to have "learning about history be fun through hands-on STEAM ( science, technology, engineering, art and math). The focus is on Geary County History.
Focus areas are ranging from the Ice Age and dinosaurs that lived in this area to tornadoes, the Dust Bowl and flooding. There is also an opportunity for students to build a smores solar oven. In this engineering project, students will be given the materials to make the oven but cannot heat up the smores until they figure out how to get the oven to work.
It is important to know the facts about catastrophes like tornadoes and the Dust Bowl but also figure out ways to prevent them or minimize the damage in the future, said Johnson.
Johnson also has gone into many of the schools and nursing homes to do presentations about Geary County history. Patsy and her husband will soon be moving to North Carolina, where she hopes to be involved with a non-profit and teach STEAM concepts.