Mayborn Museum Celebrates 10 Years with Larger-Than-Life Exhibit

May 28, 2014

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Media contact: Terry Goodrich, (254) 710-3321
WACO, Texas (May 28, 2014) – “The 10th anniversary of the Mayborn Museum was something we were talking about for a long time. We wanted to do something big. And what’s bigger than dinosaurs?”
That was the mindset of Rebecca Tucker Nall, assistant director of communications for the Mayborn, and several of the Mayborn Museum Complex’s faculty when deciding what the commemorative exhibit should be. Be the Dinosaur: Life in the Cretaceous became the result and opened on May 24.
Be the Dinosaur was designed with guidance from the museum’s paleontology department and includes many interactive features to allow those attending to experience what life was like for dinosaurs in the Cretaceous period. These features include video games and animatronic dinosaurs, designed to get the museum-goers involved.
Nall said the best part about the museum’s simulators is they are able to get many people to learn as well as having fun.
“Everyone who has come to the exhibit seems to have such a great time,” Nall said. “We had an 85-year-old woman play the video game and survive!”
The simulations and games in Be the Dinosaur allow the user to see what life looked like at the time for a dinosaur. In addition to the exhibit’s interactivity, there are Cretaceous-period artifacts to observe from the Mayborn’s collection as well as some borrowed from the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Special, family-friendly events will be held throughout the exhibit’s duration. “Dino Days” will be every Tuesday in the exhibit and include activities such as dinosaur-themed movie parties, face painting, digging for dinosaur bones and book readings. John Hutchinson, chief paleontology adviser, will lecture at the exhibit on June 14 to delve further into the topic of life during the Cretaceous period.
“Activities vary from week to week to offer something different for families who return to the exhibit,” Nall said.
The exhibit will be open through September 3. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays; and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.
Admission into the Mayborn and the Be the Dinosaur exhibit is $10 per adult, $9 for seniors and $5 for children under the age of 12. Baylor students and Mayborn Museum Members are admitted for free.
For more information, call the Mayborn Museum Complex at (254) 710-1110. The museum is located at 1300 S. University Parks Drive.
by Rebecca Flannery, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805
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Baylor University is a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.
ABOUT MAYBORN MUSEUM COMPLEX
Located on the Baylor University campus, the Mayborn Museum Complex features a natural science and cultural history museum focusing on Central Texas with walk-in dioramas, including one on the Waco Mammoth Site, and exploration stations for geology, paleontology, archaeology, and natural history. In addition, 17 themed discovery rooms encourage hands-on learning for all ages.