Amazing interviews highlight fundraiser for science program for girls
SPEAKERS at the Women in Science and Culture Celebration included (clockwise from upper left) artist Barbara Carrasco, seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones and museum president and geologist Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga.
An inspirational and entertaining Zoom event was held last month to benefit the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) “Adventures in Nature” program. That popular program, for students through eighth grade, focuses on the E-STEAM fields (Environment, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics).
The focus of the evening was women and girls, and the dialogue in the “fireside chat” with the two honored women was entrancing.
Titled the “The Women in Science and Culture Celebration,”`the event honored Chicana activist, artist and muralist Barbara Carrasco and seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones. Alie Ward, Emmy Award-winning science correspondent for shows on CBS and the CW, served as host and facilitator of the discussion with the two honorees. NHM President and Director Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga presented the honorees with statuettes based on the sculpture by Julia Bracken Wendt located in the museum’s rotunda.
The event raised more than $160,000 to support a new all-girls Adventures in Nature program developed to honor the NHM’s commitment to women in science and culture.
ADVENTURES IN NATURE at the Natural History Museum will feature a new program for girls. An inspirational animated video
(below and at tinyurl.com/vzcxr4dy) introduced the program.
Student participants will conduct experiments, travel back in time to the Ice Age, explore fossils and wildlife in Los Angeles, and learn about the culture and way of life of the indigenous people of California. The program fosters a nurturing community of girls, and female scientists will mentor the girls.The funds raised at the event will allow the NHM to sponsor more than 310 girls to attend for free.
The event included an interactive experience with Barbara Carrasco’s 1981 mural, “L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective,” soon to grace the museum’s new south-side entrance, the “NHM Commons” that will open onto the Memorial Coliseum and the new Lucas Museum side of the NHM. See: tinyurl.com/d93f4pjn
Category: Entertainment
