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MUSEUM STAFFER LANDS NATIONAL AWARD FRANK PEEBLES 97/16 staff
It was hard to get words out through the jags of disbelief, the tears of gratitude and the interruptions of laughter and applause as the roomful of science professionals let Amanda Smedley know just how appreciated she was on a national level. Smedley had just been surprised. She and her colleagues in senior management at Exploration Place Museum + Science Centre were sitting at the gala awards event at the 2019 Canadian Association of Science Centres in Halifax (known as The Cascades). They announced the outstanding career achievement category, and after a short preamble about this year’s winner, they called Smedley’s name. Her stride to the stage was confident but her charming stammering and welling up at the podium let everyone know this was as much a shock as it was a touching honour. “Science communication and literacy really does mean everything to me,” said Smedley during her speech in response to the sudden news. “I’m passionate about it. I think that together we really can change the world if we keep doing what we’re doing, and I don’t think I’m just being an idealist when I say that. Every year when I get into this room with you guys it reminds me that we can and we will. I’m proud to be a colleague of all of yours.” It was actually the second award at the 2019 Cascades that had Smedley’s name on it. She was also the one responsible for the science-based speaker series hosted monthly at Exploration Place at which UNBC professionals tell the public about their research and discoveries. This won Exploration Place the Best Program – Small Institution trophy. Smedley had some advance warning that award was coming their way, so she had a proper speech prepared. “I was proud of that one, because it’s for something we do here that doesn’t happen often in science facilities like ours – to purely engage an audience with science,” Smedley told The Citizen once her nerves had calmed. “There is some really cool stuff going on in science in this city and UNBC is a big driver of that but they so rarely get
97/16 photo by James Doyle
Amanda Smedley, manager of community engagement with The Exploration Place, shows off her awards she won at the Canadian Association of Science Centres annual conference that recently took place in Halifax. Smedley won an award for Outstanding Career Achievement and Small Insititution - Best Program for the Adult Speaker Series. to discuss it out in a public place. People so rarely get to know about this work and think about it in an active way and when it happens it can change people’s behaviour. It can affect real change. This series will add up to things we don’t even know about, so it’s something we really believe in. It was amazing to be recognized for that on a national level.” It’s innovative thinking like that that earned Smedley the lifetime achievement award and she gave all the credit to Exploration Place CEO Tracy Calegheros and her colleagues in Prince George for enabling the ideas and turning them into reality, even if they are challenging. “I feel like we’re standing on the cusp of something big, so to have the award come out as a way of saying yes, we see you, you
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are doing great things - that’s meaningful beyond belief,” Smedley said. “This gave us a big platform. It lets us say yes, we really are doing extraordinary things at Exploration Place and you should let us keep doing that.” “We are very lucky to have the team that we do here at the Exploration Place,” said Calogheros. “Longtime staffers like Amanda have shared their talents and their passions not just with Prince George but with our entire province and indeed, our country. I cannot think of a more deserving recipient.” Calogheros was partially surprised as well by the lifetime achievement honour. She was not the one who nominated Smedley, that submission was made independently by board members Todd Whitcombe
and Katherine Scouten. “In particular,” said Whitcombe, “she has been the champion for years of the Community Science Celebrations in Prince George. These have led to the implementation of an MOU with Science World for the development of province-wide education. She was a key actor in developing Symbiosis – the STEAM Ecosystem – and Tech UP programs (based in Prince George) in conjunction with Science World. These programs promise to provide educational possibilities for children and youth which will help to ensure a lifelong interest in science-based disciplines.” Smedley has been at Exploration Place for 19 years and has no other goal but the future expansion and perfection of science programming there.
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