The Audubon Science Center at Skyline Plaza is changing its after-school program in an effort to get more children exposed to animals, nature displays and other forms of environmental education.

Interim Director Megan Flatness said one major difference is in the pricing structure. Last year, parents paid for a session. This year, they can pay on a per-day basis. She said the cost will be $5 per day per child for parents who are Audubon Society members and $5.50 per day per child for parents who aren’t.

“It’s going to be more affordable for the parents, and we want as many kids here as we can,” she said.

Another change is in the schedule, Flatness said. The after-school program at the Audubon Science Center will be open 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. In other words, any day that Albert Lea School District plans to have classes. The after-school program starts on the same day as the first day of school in Albert Lea, Sept. 2.

In spring 2007, the program was open Tuesdays and Thursdays and by fall and spring 2008 expanded to Monday through Thursday.

People coming to the Audubon Science Center will notice there are fewer animals. Flatness said many were sold because of costs. She said they kept animals that were popular with children and ones that were native to Minnesota and the United States.

Some of the nature and science displays have been moved or switched out for new ones.

Children get to the Audubon Science Center after school by taking a school bus to Southwest Middle School. An Audubon Science Center staff member meets them there and walks with the children north to the nearby science center. There are hands-on activities, classes, learning games and daily snack time. Most children are in kindergarten through fifth grade. Arrangements can be made for sixth-graders, too.

The telephone number at the Audubon Science Center is 373-3027.

The Audubon Science Center, which people can visit free of charge, is in the middle of an annual fundraiser and recently sent letters to many people and businesses in the Albert Lea community, seeking new members and financial contributors. People can be one-year members for $20 and families can join for $25. Larger donations fit higher categories of membership.

There is also an opportunity to adopt an animal, which helps pay for the care and feeding of the animals at the science center. For instance, people can adopt a corn snake for $25 for one year and the animal stays in the custody of the science center.

Staffing

Flatness has been interim director for the Audubon Science Center since January, when Director Ann Bryson could no longer work because of a battle with leukemia. Flatness had started as a teacher in March 2007.

Audubon Science Center board treasurer Carol Bertelson said a bequeathed donation sparked the opening of a science center in 2003. It has been in Skyline Plaza since 2005. She said the science center survives not from the original memorial but from the revenue off investments. She said the science center has had to cut back but is hoping to stay open thanks to the present fund drive.

Bertelson spoke highly of Flatness and said she has great interests in children and in nature.

Flatness, who turns 24 later this month, has a degree in elementary education from Bemidji State University and during college worked as a natural resources worker at Itasca State Park. She pointed out she had an uncle who worked at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, and he used to take her bird-watching when she was a child. Nature is her nature.

She said she has concerns about children becoming less connected to nature and about declining attendance at natural areas such as state and national parks. She hopes education such as the after-school program at the Audubon Science Center teaches children greater understand about the environment.