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Academy awards young scientists -- Area children spent the summer studying fossils, Indian culture

Posted on: Friday, 5 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

PEORIA - Armed with visions of astronomy, plants, dinosaur fossils and geology, 100 youngsters spent the summer on a scientific adventure.

On Sunday, the children collected the rewards of that adventure.

Children from first to eighth grades gathered at Lakeview Museum for the 14th annual Science Treasure Hunt award ceremony sponsored by the Peoria Academy of Science.

Each child completed a "scientific passport" and visited at least eight sites from a selection of 16 destinations from May until August. More than 6,000 passports were distributed to school districts in Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties for participating sites such as Forest Park Nature Center, Lakeview Museum, Wildlife Prairie State Park and Luthy Botanical Garden.

After sending in an entry form and answering the 10 "everyday science questions" in the passport, 100 participants were randomly drawn from 230 completed forms to receive prizes, said Bert Princen, president of Peoria Academy of Science.

"Some families have three kids qualify for prizes, others have one. It just depends," he said.

Families were a valuable part of the treasure hunt experience. Parents often took their kids to the different science sites and discussed the questions in their passports.

"I think this is a fantastic program," said one father, Paul Gottwald. "We've been doing this for five years."

Beaming faces could be seen all around as each child's name was called and they collected their goodie bag of books, rocks and information about upcoming science events.

Once everyone received their preliminary prizes, the anticipation grew as the top six prize winners were drawn from the 100 names in the room.

"The prizes are my favorite part," said Peoria Academy third- grader Allison Gottwald.

Although some prizes were donated by private donation, the Peoria Academy of Science foots the majority of the $4,000 cost to run the Science Treasure Hunt. Top prizes included year-long passes to Lakeview Museum and Wildlife Prairie Park, T-shirts, stuffed animals, minerals and gift certificates.

The grand prize was a choice between a $1,000 science catalog shopping spree or a personal computer. This year's winner was Cody Bonneville of Mapleton.

The educational payoffs also interested some participants.

"I liked Dickson Mounds Museum and the Indian displays the best," said Sarah Gottwald.

Dickson Mounds Museum in Lewistown exhibits American Indian culture and is one of the scientific sites in the treasure hunt.

Long-term educational benefits are hoped for by organizers.

"I want to get kids exposed to science that is severely lacking in public education," said Science Treasure Hunt chairman Mike Rucker.

"Anything to initiate an interest in science and technology so we have more engineers, doctors and scientists is why I am involved," said Princen.

For more information about the Academy of Science or the Science Treasure Hunt, call 686-3360.

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