December 2019
Your monthly news & updates
Our Mission
To ignite the natural curiosity of all learners to explore and shape their world
MOUNTAIN UPDATES
Roper Mountain Gift Memberships
Give the gift of unforgettable experiences at Roper Mountain to a loved one this holiday season. You can save $5 on a gifted membership until Dec. 5 using the code MERRY19 . In the spirit of giving, be sure to explore our Supporting Membership options; all levels include sponsored membership donations to families in need and a portion of your gift is tax deductible. Visit the   Membership Page to learn more and purchase your gift today!
Roper Mountain Science Center is a facility of Greenville County Schools. Because of that, our buildings are not open to the public during the week, as we are busy facilitating engaging, hands-on learning for hundreds of students from all around the state and beyond within our walls. Please check our website or social media for details on when we are open to the public for special events. 

Note: our facility will be closed from Monday, Dec. 23, through Friday, Jan. 3, following Greenville County Schools' Winter Break schedule.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Holiday Laser Shows
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Holiday Laser Shows are back for select Fridays and Saturdays in December. Mark your calendar and purchase your tickets now - these will sell out and are not to be missed!  

STEMFest Second Saturday
Saturday, February 8
9:00am - 3:00pm
Mark your calendar for our first Second Saturday event of 2020. Let’s build the future…Together!  


DEPARTMENT UPDATES
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY BUILDING UPDATES:
If you come by Roper Mountain for a holiday laser show, you will notice the new Environmental Science and Sustainability Center growing before your eyes. Over the past month, we have had the foundation poured and are seeing progress every day on the structural steel being put in place. 
HARRISON HALL OF NATURAL SCIENCE UPDATES:
Fifth graders who attend Sea-It-In-A-Day will experience newly enhanced “Landforms: Above and Below” lesson. Students will use augmented reality topographic sandboxes to create their own continental landforms. They will also explore 3D printed “mystery” oceanic landforms as they collect data using handheld laser distancing tools representing SONAR. 




Thanks to a donation from The Tallahassee Museum, we now have a baby pine snake. It will go on display soon!
LIVING HISTORY FARM UPDATES:
Thank you for coming out to the Fall Harvest Festival last month. We had dozens of fun, fall-focused activities and demonstrations on the farm. We featured a new apple grinder and apple press to make fresh apple cider and even had Border Collies (and puppies!) on-hand to expertly herd the sheep in our pastures. We appreciate our event partners like Whole Foods and Red Clay soap for their assistance and expertise to make the event a huge success.  
SYMMES HALL OF SCIENCE UPDATES:
We are one of 50 recipients to receive an Engineering Engagement Kit (EEK!) as part of a National Science Foundation Grant to engineer research of cellular meta-materials. The EEK! was developed through the CELL-MET Engineering Research Center – an NSF-funded partnership between Boston University, University of Michigan, and Florida International University, with the support of museum partners in California, Oregon, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Canada, and Argentina. As a grant recipient, we’ll receive two days of professional development and the kit, which consists of eight hands-on activities meant to share CELL-MET research with the public while engaging children and families in dialogue around engineering skills and careers. We will be sharing these activities with visitors in early 2020.


Symmes is seeing infrared! Christmas came early when our local Fluke representative, Rick Kleinau, brought us 11 refurbished/demo model Infrared cameras! We sincerely appreciate their generosity and are excited about the possibilities this offers. A special thanks to Rick and Fluke! 
HOOPER PLANETARIUM AND DANIEL OBSERVATORY UPDATES:
Due to the special Holiday Laser Shows taking place on Fridays and Saturdays leading up to the Winter Break (Dec. 23 through Jan. 3), Daniel Observatory will be closed to the public. We look forward to welcoming you back to the universe of exploration in 2020!
VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS AND OUTREACH PROGRAMS UPDATES:
Virtual Field Trip Teacher Jasmin Poor, presented and showcased our offerings at the 2019 South Carolina EdTech Conference, where teachers got to learn about the value of virtual field trips.
A new animal outreach program called “Scales and Tales”, which will feature live animals from Roper Mountain’s collection, will premier in June of 2020. Audiences will learn about each animal’s adaptations as well as some fairy tales and fables about those animals. While this program will be limited to locations within an hour’s drive of Roper Mountain, we have recently taken some of our other Science on Wheels programming to the cities of Sumter and Myrtle Beach, extending the Roper Mountain Mission to some of the farthest reaches yet.
SCIENCE PLUS INSTITUTE UPDATES:
The 2020 summer Science PLUS Institute application is now available! You can find the application by visiting HERE. Please encourage any South Carolina public school science teachers in grades 1 – 12 to apply.
DID YOU KNOW?
…that winter can be the best time for bird watching? Visit our Bird Watch Station located in Wildwood, just behind the Treetop Treehouse, where we have a bird blind and sign showing our commonly viewed birds. Birds like the edge effect here, an area where two or more habitats come together.
Wait patiently and see how many different birds you can spot on the feeder and in the trees above. This area is open to the public. Happy Birding!
SUPPORT THE MOUNTAIN
Volunteer With Roper Mountain 
In the past we have accepted high school and adult Public Events volunteer applications. Starting this Spring, we will open up volunteer applications to rising 8 th graders to join our team for Butterfly Adventure and future Second Saturdays.  
Spread The Word About Roper Mountain
Do you love visiting Roper Mountain? Would you consider sharing your personal experiences with others? Please visit our Facebook page, TripAdvisor page, Google listing and / or Yelp page to leave a review and help us spread the word about all that we have to offer.
Give Back To Roper Mountain:
Have you considered making Roper Mountain one of the charities you support this year? Without donations from individuals like you, we wouldn’t be able to invest back in the hands-on, story-based lessons children come to know and love when here for school field trips; we wouldn’t be able to be the “place of yes” for visitors who attend our public programs; and we wouldn’t be able to invest in our current and future workforce in the community. Please consider making a gift to Roper Mountain today. 
AmazonSmile
What if you could contribute to science education without spending a dime? Go to Smile.Amazon.com and choose Roper Mountain Science Center Association as your charity. Bookmark the site – which looks exactly like the regular Amazon site – so that when you make your normal purchases, we will be credited. Amazon will donate 0.5% of your purchases back to Roper Mountain.
THANK YOU COMMUNITY PARTNERS!
Visionary:
Duke Energy Foundation
Fluor
Lockheed Martin
Michelin North America

Explorer:
GE

Voyager:
BMW Manufacturing
Prisma Health – Upstate
ScanSource
Wells Fargo Foundation

Adventurer:
Aeronix, Inc.
Chick Fil-A of Pelham Road
State Farm Insurance

Innovator:
AFL Global
Loggerhead Apparel
ZF North America, Inc.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
We welcome feedback on what you like to read about or see more of when you visit Roper Mountain. Email Amanda Lenar to share your thoughts.