Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs has created a new position aimed at expanding early childhood programs and building partnerships with schools and organizations.
Former Director of Education Casey Chandler has been promoted to director of education development, with former Assistant Director of Education Kayla Ingle taking over Chandler's role as director of education.
"Now, our education department has grown to the point that we can split out and create a whole new department of educational development," Chandler said. "So, basically, it's giving us the ability to go above and beyond what we normally do. So, trying to expand and serve other populations a little bit better than we have been."
Some of Chandler's new responsibilities include searching for grants, supporting teachers and expanding early childhood development programs.
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Although the museum hasn't focused much on younger children, with a main demographic of ages 8-12, they did formerly have an on-site science story time called "Scientots," which Chandler plans to look into and develop further, she said.
Chandler joined the team at the museum in 2008 after completing a bachelor's degree in management and marketing from Arkansas Tech University. Although, she started volunteering for the museum before that at the age of 12.
Entering the master's of arts in teaching program at Henderson State University, the Hot Springs native left the museum around 2015 and spent a few years in the classroom before returning to the museum as the director of education in 2019.
"Science was absolutely my favorite subject right up until about seventh grade when math started being involved a little too much," Chandler said.
"And I got scared. It wasn't until coming back here and working as a volunteer coordinator that I really discovered, 'Oh my God, I used to love doing this stuff, it was so much fun.' And so, that was actually why I decided I wanted to be a teacher as well. That was around the age that I started losing interest in science because it wasn't fun anymore. And I wanted to take the museum world to a classroom and be like, 'No, no, no, it's still fun.'"
Although she returned to the museum just a few years later, now, with her experience in the classroom, Chandler is able to take that experience and apply it to her role at the museum.
"Now I can use that information to really know and understand what teachers do in the classroom and try and bridge the gap between formal education and informal education," she said.
Ingle joined the team at Mid-America Science Museum in 2019 as an educator after working as the experience manager at Hands On! Regional Museum in Johnson City, Tenn., according to a news release from the museum.
With a bachelor's degree in environmental science from the University of Central Arkansas, the Lake Hamilton High School graduate returned as an educator at Mid-America.
Ingle then worked her way up through roles including education coordinator and then assistant director of education in 2022. Now, she is taking over Chandler's role as director of education.
"I'm really excited," she said. "I kind of jumped at the opportunity to become a director. I've really enjoyed working in museum life, and so it was just really exciting to go ahead and take another step further."
As director of education, Ingle oversees groups including field trips and birthday parties, as well as outreach such as after-school outreaches.
"Kayla was already here as the education coordinator when I came on, and then she recently got promoted to assistant director (of education), which was very fantastic," Chandler said.
"I'm the one with the big, crazy ideas, and then she keeps me focused. So, now I don't have that. But we still are a great team, and we work together. ... I'm so excited that she was the one that got to do this. She's gonna take it amazing places that I was never going to be able to do, and now I'm able to do the stuff that I really wanted to do."
Kayla Ingle discusses her promtion from Mid-America Science Museum's assistant director of education to director of education. – Photo by Courtney Edwards of The Sentinel-Record