(Media release from Tellus Science Museum):
September marks a major milestone for Tellus Science Museum as they welcomed their 2.5 millionth visitor.
On Monday, September 26th, 2022, 85 kids from Howard Connect Academy in Chattanooga, TN were surprised to learn that someone in their group was Tellus Science Museum’s 2.5 millionth visitor. Museum staff welcomed the students with confetti cannons and the museum’s Executive Director Jose Santamaria welcomed the students and informed them of the milestone they helped the museum reach.
“We get visitors from all over the Southeast and especially Chattanooga since it’s such an easy drive. The Chattanooga area is one of our top ten areas from which we attract guests. I think it was cool for the students to walk through the door and pass the 2.5 million visitor mark! They paid as a group and there was no way to identify which student would be the single visitor to help us reach this goal, so we decided to celebrate with the whole group,” said Tellus Executive Director Jose Santamaria.
Santamaria continued, “We’ve been watching the numbers closely for the last few months – making our predictions about when we thought this would happen. Last week we looked at our scheduled groups that we were expecting, crunched the numbers for estimated daily walk-in traffic, and forecasted that it would likely fall during this particular group’s visit. And it did! ”
Each child received a bag of treats from the Tellus Store complete with a complimentary admission pass to return for another visit with their family. As a final surprise, the students enjoyed cookies in the Carter Davis Pavilion at Tellus before they headed back to school.
“This was an extremely special day,”said Megan Oliver, assistant principal at Howard Connect Academy. “It made our students day. It’s great to be a part of history,” she continued.
Tellus Science Museum has seen a rise in general visitation over the last few years. The museum offers a wide range of exhibits themed around all aspects of science. With annual events that feature space, dinosaurs, rocks and minerals, weather, and modern machinery, there is always more to learn and do at Tellus. The next big event, Heavy Metal in Motion, takes place on Saturday, October 8th 2022, and will feature big machinery, cars, and helicopters for patrons to get up close on and experience.
Since opening in 2009, the museum has had many new additions to its collection. The most recent is the donation by Michael Macke of an adult and baby Triceratops. Tellus anticipates more exhibits and events in the future and looks forwards to sharing them with the public.
Tellus Science Museum is a program of Georgia Museums, Inc., which includes Booth Western Art Museum, Savoy Automobile Museum, and Bartow History Museum. The Smithsonian Affiliate is a 120,000 square foot science museum located in Cartersville, just north of Atlanta. For more information about Tellus Science Museum call (770) 606-5700 or visit www.tellusmuseum.org or www.facebook.com/tellusmuseum.
