BOWLS FOR BABIES: A SOUPER FUNDRAISER

The March Of Dimes Hosts 9th Annual Luncheon

In 2003, March of Dimes volunteers hosted the first Bowls for Babies to raise funds and awareness of their mission to help all babies arrive on time …every time. Today, Bowls for Babies is a highly anticipated annual event. According to this year’s event chair, Kim Peterson, “Each year, people are waiting outside the doors. It’s crazy! They want to find their favorite bowl.”

AW: When and where is the luncheon?

Peterson: Wednesday, December 7, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at Fargo’s Ramada Plaza and Suite’s Crystal Ballroom

AW: What happens at the luncheon?

Peterson: First, people usually pick a ceramic bowl to take home. Then, they eat lunch, which includes soup, bread, and a beverage. There’s also a silent auction with a Buy it now option.

AW: How do you get your bowls?

Peterson: Corporate sponsors paint bowls with the help of their employees or donate them to a preschool or daycare to paint. Minnesota State University Moorhead and West Fargo art students also create pottery and painted bowls. The bowls are displayed with signs indicating who donated and painted them. We partner with Clay Your Way to glaze and fire the bowls, so they are event ready come December 7.

AW: What kind of soup is served?

Peterson: Eleven restaurants, who we call soupers, bring a variety of soups. Soupers include The Old Broadway, W.F. Maxwell’s, Basies, Granite City Food and Brewery, the HoDo, Grazies Italian Grill, Ramada Plaza & Suites Banquet, Nichole’s Fine Pastry, Texas Roadhouse, Bertrosa’s, and Doolittles Woodfire Grill. Bread is donated by Breadsmith.

AW: Can guests try more than one soup?

Peterson: Absolutely! We encourage it and provide paper bowls. You don’t have to eat out of the bowl you take home. That would get messy.

AW: What kind of support did you receive last year?

Peterson: In Fargo, 900 people raised $35,000 for our local March of Dimes. These dollars fund grants, education for health care professionals about the latest tools to treat their tiniest patients, and education for young women. In North Dakota, where one in nine babies is born prematurely, this information is vital.

AW: How did you get involved?

Peterson: In 2007 and 2008, my husband and I had two premature babies who had extended stays in a neonatal intensive care unit. Prior to that, another Lillestol employee had premature triplets. This charity had personal meaning to us, and our office began raising money with Blue Jeans for Babies on Tuesdays, which led to other March of Dimes events.

AW: Where can tickets be purchased?

Peterson: Tickets are available ahead of time at local Gate City locations and Lillestol Research, or at the door that day.

AW: Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Peterson: We want to acknowledge our major donors Gate City Bank, Essentia Health, and Lillestol Research. Their support is invaluable in helping us help babies. And we also want to thank the public for supporting the event.

Peterson asked her oldest son, Hunter, if he knew why he was painting a bowl this year. “Yeah, Mom,” he said. “It’s for the babies.” To show your soup-port for healthy babies, attend Bowls for Babies on December 7. [AWM]

MSUM Planetarium Gets New Digital Projector

EXPERIENCE WILL BE IMMERSIVE, DYNAMIC AND FAR REACHING

Imagine leaning back in a comfortable, climate-controlled room and diving into the depths of the ocean, flying to the mountaintops on Earth, or soaring out to the farthest known quasar.

This seamless visualization will soon be available in Minnesota State University Moorhead’s Planetarium with its new digital Elumenati projector and Uniview scientific software.

Today, the Planetarium provides public and school programming to more than 7,000 people annually. The installation of the new projector will allow MSUM to provide shows that are more dynamic and far-reaching than traditional programming seen at the Planetarium since 1972, which was initially designed specifically for astronomy classes, but has been used since then to also provide public shows.

“Our current projector system is almost 39 years old, and even though it’s been well maintained, its capabilities are limited,” said David Weinrich, MSUM Planetarium coordinator and president of the International Planetarium Society.

The Elumenati projector was installed in October and is the first step in a much larger renovation to include an advanced Mediaglobe digital projector, a laser system, a new dome, speakers and lighting. Once the upgrade is completed, the Elumenati will travel to area schools, libraries and museums, benefiting thousands in the region.

Immersive Environment

The biggest and most exciting change for audience goers will be the dynamic and total immersion experience they will now have. Uniview is the most feature-rich astronomical visualization and universal data exploration platform on the market.

“This new projector and software will supplement our main astronomy projector and will also allow us to give shows that will take audiences to places that we can’t go to in real life, such as traveling inside a human cell,” Weinrich said.

MSUM becomes only the 100th installation of this software in the world. The world’s premier science institutions use Uniview for teaching, public shows, and outreach. The Planetarium joins a prestigious group of facilities utilizing this software— NASA, American Museum of Natural History, California Academy of Science, Adler Planetarium, and Hamburg Planetarium, among others.

Jessica DeJong, an 8th grade Earth science teacher at Discovery Middle School, takes about 125 students to the Planetarium each fall.

“The capabilities of the new projector will bring the reality of the vastness of space and our own solar system into perspective,” she said. “Its 3D-like effects will capture my students’ attention.”

More than Astronomy

Students will now explore topics that have been difficult to demonstrate before. For example, instead of presenting a series of abstract, logical arguments to explain the Milky Way, “we will go to the planetarium, zoom out from the earth to outside the Milky Way, rotate around it, and get a better sense of what it looks like three dimensionally,” said physics professor Matt Craig.

Applications exist far beyond physics and astronomy, such as Earth science, biology, art history, marine biology, chemistry, geosciences, and more. Immersive programming may include diving in a coral reef, touring the Valley of the Kings, or exploring the Sistine Chapel.

The music department may show concerts in the Planetarium, and the cinema arts and digital technologies department may use the planetarium as a performance space for experimental 3D graphic animation and simulated holographic work.

“We will present many kinds of programs beyond stargazing,” Weinrich said.

“The new planetarium system will not only complement the already excellent STEM curricula at MSUM, we hope it will also help foster an interest in STEM in students from area schools who visit our planetarium, and also our community members,” said Michelle Malott, dean of social and natural sciences. “It’s one way we can reach out to a broad audience.”

Local Issues

This technology can also provide a platform for discussing local issues. “We can download images to monitor the Red River during flooding or view the expansive growth of Devils Lake over time,” Weinrich said. “We can bring people together to talk about sustainability and energy at the local and global level and use satellite data to explore solutions.”

This new projector will expand the Planetarium’s power and reach exponentially. It’s not just astronomy programming anymore, Weinrich said. “What should we call it today?

Upcoming Shows

Visually rich and musically satisfying, Season of Light will show Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. December 1-22. Season of Light reveals the history of endearing holiday customs—from the burning Yule log and sparkling tree lights to the Star of Bethlehem and the Hanukkah Menorah.

The Little Star That Could will show Mondays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. January 14 to March 5. This popular and well-loved story is about an average yellow star in search of planets of his own to protect and warm. Along the way, he learns what makes each star special.

For a listing of shows, go to the MSUM Planetarium website, msumplanetarium.com.

For more information contact David Weinrich, Coordinator, MSUM Planetarium, Regional Science Center at 218.477.2969 or weinrich@mnstate.edu.