Bethlehem Students to Enjoy Free Sundays with National Penn Support

Students from Fountain Hill Elementary School, Donegan Elementary School, and Broughal Middle School in the Bethlehem Area School District also will enjoy free Da Vinci Science Center visits with free transportation this summer through support from National Penn Bank.

The free Da Vinci Science Center admission will include the Da Vinci Science Center’s summer feature exhibition National Geographic Presents: Earth Explorers.

Students from these Bethlehem schools can visit free on their school’s designated Sunday with an accompanying adult and up to three additional family members. Free bus rides between these school locations to the Da Vinci Science Center also will be provided. Busing is provided on a first-come-first-served basis with limited seating. Busing details are available on the web at davincisciencecenter.org/freesundays.

Students from Fountain Hill Elementary School and Donegan Elementary School can visit for free on Sunday, June 14, 2015. Students from Broughal Middle School will be able to visit for free on Sunday, June 21, 2015. The Da Vinci Science Center is open from 12-5 p.m. on Sundays.

The Da Vinci Science Center is the first science center east of Chicago, Ill., to host National Geographic Earth Explorers. The exhibition’s initial three-year tour began in Sept. 2013, and it has appeared at the Science Center of Iowa; the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago; the Arizona Science Center; and at Discovery Cube Orange County in Santa Ana, Calif.

“Support from National Penn Bank allows the Da Vinci Science Center to broaden its impact on schools in the Bethlehem Area School District by providing opportunities for their students to enjoy an inspiring and interactive experience of the highest quality in National Geographic Presents: Earth Explorers,” said Lin Erickson, the Center’s Executive Director and CEO. “In being the first science center in this eastern United States to present this special exhibition, we appreciate that it is our responsibility to make sure that its impact is made on all children, including those who have the greatest need.”

The National Geographic Explorers exhibit appears at the Da Vinci Science Center through Sept. 7, 2015. Its appearance at the Center is sponsored in part by ATAS International, Inc., the Dexter F. and Dorothy H. Baker Foundation, the County of Lehigh, and Frank and Yvonne Schweighardt. National Geographic Earth Explorers takes visitors on journeys to some of the world’s wildest places and puts them inside some of the globe’s wildest adventures – such as soaring in a hot air balloon over the African savannas, scaling the Himalayas in Asia, exploring the Amazon rain forest, and coming face-to-face with a great white shark under an ocean’s surface.

National Geographic Earth Explorers features five areas that highlight the planet’s most spectacular eco-zones. Each area hosts interactive experiences for kids and the kinds of stunning visuals for which National Geographic is famous.

Free Sundays also were designated for students from the Allentown School District’s four middle schools since the opening of National Geographic Earth Explorers.