The Beaucoup section writes about their experience going to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Science Museum. Below are their thoughts.
Ramudhi Kariyawasam
Managing Editor
I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the Lafayette Science Museum, as not only was it impressively designed but also had friendly staff that warmly welcomed us to the establishment.
The museum displayed a variety of exhibits featuring air and spacecrafts, meteorites, paleontology and even a planetarium. My most favorite exhibit was indeed the paleontology exhibit, which showcased a plethora of prehistoric organisms. As a Jurassic Park enthusiast, I genuinely enjoyed seeing their dinosaur collection. Another one of the museum’s designs that I liked seeing included their air and spacecraft models that were suspended from the ceiling.
Each weekend, small, fun events are held at the museum.
During our visit, museum staff and volunteers held an exciting genetic experiment, in which they extracted DNA from a pumpkin.
All in all, the Lafayette Science Museum is a great visit for anyone in town, and includes a variety of activities that will suit any age.
Kay Padilla
Editor-In-Chief
This was my first time attending the science museum downtown. I took a geology class about dinosaurs with Dr. Jennifer Hagrave and she sparked my interest in the museum. I was very excited to see the dinosaur exhibits as Dr. Hargrave would always rave about them in class.
Seeing the fossils found all throughout the Acadiana and Louisiana region was exciting and daunting. It made me realize that Louisiana is very old. My brain didn’t compute that fossils are found everywhere on Earth.
Another exhibit I adored was the Air and Space craft areas. I adore anything aviation, but specifically NASA’s space shuttles. My favorite piece was the signed Acadiana flag flown aboard the Atlantis space shuttle.
On my way out, I kept staring at the plasma ball exhibits. I wanted to touch them but the multiple warnings around them eventually deterred me. You are allowed to touch them, so I regret not taking all my metal jewelry off and touching it.
Marie Ducote
Allons Writer
I have been going to the science museum downtown for as long as I can remember. My dad would bring me to the planetarium shows when I was off from school.
What I like about the museum is its inviting environment and how helpful the employees were when we asked our questions.
One of my favorite parts was the paleontology exhibit because it reminded me of “Night at the Museum.” There were also, interactive elements in many of the exhibits, which I noticed engaged a lot of the families that were at the museum.
On the second floor of the museum, I saw a real Curlyhair Tarantula spider and it was so cool! Also on the second floor they had a display of mission and shuttle patches. They had models of different rockets which was exciting to see.
I highly recommend next time you want something fun to do on the weekends go to the science museum you will not regret it!
The Vermilion
General Information
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette Science Museum is located at 433 Jefferson Street. UL Lafayette students get free admissions. The museum is closed Monday and Tuesday and open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Friday. Saturday they are open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The museum has many events and activities coming up, such as STEM Saturday, which happens every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum recommends these activities for elementary and middle school age children, but anyone can come and learn about science.
Nov. 23 and 30 will be Pop-Up Science and will have family geared activities to help get children interested in science. Both STEM Saturday and Pop-Up Science are included in regular admissions.
The planetarium, which is located on the second floor of the museum, has a variety of shows throughout the day targeted to different age groups. Visit the website https://lafayettesciencemuseum. org/ for more information.
