Together We Are Stronger

A Message from Leadership Together We are Stronger

Dear Community Friends,

The Museum of Discovery and Science (MODS) is once again bustling with kinetic energy from visiting members, families and field trips. The Great Gravity Clock is rolling, the giant Megalodon is keeping watch over learners at play, and our otters are joyfully splashing as ambassadors for Florida wildlife. We are filled with gratitude.

Having recently completed our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, we entered 2020 with big ideas for this pivotal year. Absent from our outlook was a global pandemic. Just three months into the year, our signature events were canceled, our doors were closed, and just like all of you, we were faced with unfathomable uncertainty.

We acted quickly, making difficult choices and operating lean in budget and staff to sustain our beloved Museum. We learned the importance of flexibility, agility and efficiency, utilizing every resource available to us while continuing to support the community. We leaned into the ultimate test, defining what it meant to connect people - all people - to inspiring science without the benefit of our physical space and in-person operation. We remained steadfast in our mission, and our pivot to virtual was nearly instant.

As the inspiration for future engineers, aviation specialists, biologists, inventors, ecologists and computer scientists, we braved the ‘new world’ with curiosity, innovation and problem solving. Through impactful virtual and on-site offerings, we connected with families and learners, wherever they were. Let us highlight just a few examples of recent initiatives that were launched at MODS:

• Our team created more than 250 STEM videos shared across social platforms.

• We launched our “MODS Comes to You” outreach programs, as our

STEMobile hit the road, reaching more than 50,000 learners.

• Our partnership with Broward County Public Schools bolstered STEM learning during the pandemic through the creation of the MODS

Challenge for learners k-12.

• We opened groundbreaking new exhibits at the Museum, including our Sprouting STEM Early Childhood Learning Lab powered by PNC

Grow Up Great® for our youngest scientists and The Leighton Family

Hangar aviation-themed Makerspace for makers of all ages.

• Our signature multi-award-winning video HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention series, Wise Bodies, presented by the AIDS Healthcare

Foundation, garnered more than 500,000 views globally.

• We helped inform and prepare our community and beyond for storm season with Eye of the Storm, sponsored by the Florida Department of Emergency Management and in partnership with the International

Hurricane Research Center at Florida International University. The videos reached more than 1 million online views in 2020, and the event achieved record-breaking on-site attendance in 2021.

MODS has emerged from the pandemic stronger, more resilient and more determined than ever. Just like our young visitors, we are building the future. Our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan sets the foundation for the exciting pathways ahead. This defining declaration shares our core values of discovery, inclusivity, collaboration, creativity, education and excellence. Each value is essential in creating opportunities and fostering inclusion.

It has been our honor and responsibility to keep our community connected to science virtually and in-person.

To inspiring science infinite discovery and enduring impact,

Robert B. Lochrie III, Esq.

Chairman, Board of Trustees Rick J. Burgess, Esq.

Incoming Chairman, Board of Trustees Joseph P. Cox

President & CEO