CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The tourism industry -- like so many -- has certainly been hit hard by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History is trying to defy those odds.
As soon as Texas Governor Greg Abbott allowed museums to open back up in June, the CC Museum did not hesitate to seize the opportunity.
"We were able to put together 11 weeks of summer camp and we were the only day summer camp in the Coastal Bend area that provided a camp experience," Scott Simmonds with the CC Museum said.
Just a few weeks later, without skipping a beat, they said they saw a void in the community for aiding with distance learning. At the start of the school year, they introduced the Museum Academy.
"We've been able to overcome any challenge we've come across with our kindergarteners," Education Manager Jonathan Garza said. "It's always great to hear them say my first school was the museum."
They said it was a risk to start new programming tailored around the struggles presented by COVID-19, but it appears to have been worth the reward.
"That's paying off because we could have just done nothing and wait for the pandemic to control us, but we decided that is not going to be the case," Simmonds said.
Now, they are introducing another event called Science Explorers Camp, which will start on Monday, September 28.
They said it'll help students in the Corpus Christi ISD who will be off for a week after the first six weeks of school. The museum will be conducting the most popular activities from their summer camp like wizarding world of Science.
"We get to utilize circuitry to make wands," Garza said. "We get to learn about chemical reactions, make bubbling solutions."