After 17 years, the Allen P. Zak Science Center in La Grange Park is still bursting with energy and new ideas to continue teaching science using a hands-on approach to the elementary school-aged children within the boundaries of La Grange Elementary School District 102.
Facilities at the Science Center include: a Starlab Planetarium for astronomy lessons; an Animal Center featuring a variety of interesting creatures along with very large and beautiful aquariums; a Discovery Center offering various scientific objects and toys; a Flight Cage housing cockatiels, parakeets and a quail; three Learning Stations; a butterfly Habitat and an Outdoor Pond with aquatic flora and fauna.
Founded in 1990 via the vision of Paul Prell and Tom Graika, and funding from the Illinois Scientific Literacy Program, the center continues to present science in a unique way to the students within the school district.
The Science Expo ’07 will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 3, at Forest Road School in La Grange Park. The Expo is open to the public and there is no admission charge. According to Gail Lynch, Science Center Enrichment Council coordinator, there are four areas for students to have become involved in the Expo:
1) The Science Expo allows kids to have an audience, so there is a section of the Expo devoted to collections and categories that children may have an interest in, such as feathers, shells, etc. An official will come and visit the displays as the students proudly display their treasures.
2) Experiment — various scientific experiments will be explored with the method and the result of the experiment.
3) Exploration — take an idea and follow it through. An example of this discipline would be one of the children taking the solar system and looking at the stars and mapping the view in the winter sky.
4) Inventions also will be explored at the Expo — the kids have a chance to create something new. All areas are open to students from kindergarten through sixth grade.
This year, an artistic way to raise funds for the Science Center has been introduced. Virginia Hohl, one of the teachers at the Science Center, spied some solid wooden school chairs that were on the dock at the old Forest Road School waiting to be discarded. Before joining the Science Center, Hohl taught first through third grades at Newberry School in Chicago and participated in a very successful fundraising activity there by having the students paint chairs and auction them to the community.
Upon hearing this suggestion, Cindy Pigatto, director of the Science Center, passed it onto Zenia McBride, Park Junior High School’s art teacher. In addition to teaching art to the student body at Park, McBride also heads up the Art Club for the seventh- and eighth-graders. Because McBride was looking for a project, it was perfect timing. Through the genius of McBride, the students in the Art Club have decorated 19 vintage school chairs in the “spirit of science.” As McBride explained, “This was a wonderful project — the designs include the ocean, astronomy and even one that is the human body. They are magnificent. This project was an inspiration for me.”
There will be a silent auction for the chairs during the Expo. Top bids will be announced at noon and winning bidders may take their chairs home with them immediately. All chairs but one will be in the silent auction — there will be tickets sold for one selected chair and the winner also will be announced during the Expo hours. Funds generated from the auctions and drawing tickets will be used to support the education programs at the district’s Science Center, improve the surroundings and enhance the experience of our students during their visits to the center.
The Science Center affords our children the experience of a total science environment. Because this is not a typical classroom, there are special accommodations for truly getting involved with an experiment, it is a place where the students can totally immerse themselves in the science of science. The Science Center also serves as a model for college students majoring in science education so that they can be in an environment where they can see and teach the methodology of science.

For more information about the Allen P. Zak Science Center and the auction, (chairs are pictured on the Web site) visit www.dist102.k12.il.us. Follow the Science Center tab to get information about not only the center but Science Expo as well.