2014 ANNUAL REPORT
2014 Association Officers Friends of the Armstrong Air and Space Museum Association: Thomas Finkelmeier Jr. President The year featured setbacks and successes. Record cold temperatures and
Sean Stroh curtailed field trips from public schools early in the year, but visitors flocked 1st Vice President th in during July to celebrate the 45 anniversary and attendance at space Greg Myers camp doubled that of any previous incarnation. During the summer, Sean 2nd Vice President Stroh, who had served as Vice President and unofficially as the museum’s Donna Grube technical support left the Neil Armstrong Airport and his position on the Secretary Board of Trustees. James Heinrich Treasurer The Museum added two components intended to engage young visitors
Board of Trustees (4 & under) and new exhibit elements refreshed the lunar landing simulator and Apollo exhibit. Engineering students at Ohio Northern University Don Arnett Matt Bailey continued work on its latest contribution to the museum’s exploration Rachel Barber equipment. Committed to the initiative that began in 2013, the Museum Thomas Finkelmeier Jr. continues to review and improve the its exhibits in an effort to ensure its Dan Graf offerings are up-to-date and accurate. Donna Grube Don Harrod A highlight for the year was the Mutual Concerns of Air and Space Museums James Heinrich conference in Washington DC. In addition to sessions on programs, Josh Hines Joseph Lenhart education, and installations, museum educator Emily Richard and I were also Rodney Metz able to experience the National Air and Space Museum including X-1, Greg Myers Friendship 7, and Apollo 11. 2014 also saw the museum’s first billboard and Kraig Noble the introduction of QuickBooks accounting. Don Regula Al Solomon In short, it was a tremendous year of change, new initiatives, and grand Sean Stroh John Zwez celebrations.
Ex Officio Trustees
Dr. Thomas Crouch Thank you for your support. Mary Ann Olding Tony Sculimbrene
Executive Director Christopher Burton Christopher Burton Executive Director Museum Educator
Emily Richard
2 Sharing the Story
Storytelling begins with the museum’s exhibits. The staff’s efforts have been two-fold: to maintain the existing exhibits and to add or improve exhibits as possible. In 2014, we repainted the outdoor replica capsules (above) and corrected mistakes in the entry hallway. We also added a preschool interactive table (right) and toddler manipulative (above right). The museum also replaced several damaged images and reconnected loose objects. Together, the museum looks better kept and contains more updated information.
The museum offered two specialty tours in the spring, giving visitors a glimpse of the myth of sci-fi movies and the secret history of space travel.
Occasionally, the museum has a rare opportunity to reach beyond the typical audience. In July, rock band Blues Traveler (right) visited the museum for a photo shoot in support of their upcoming album, Blow Up the Moon. They apparently thought the Armstrong Air & Space Museum was the best venue for their unique album art.
The new apparel wall (right) combines into one area what was previously located throughout the store.
Museum Store
Completely renovated the sales floor and backstock area in 2014 Relocated model rockets, apparel, and space food to the front Features over 2,000 products No admission required to shop the store Store sales fund greater than 35% of the museum budget
3 2014 Space Camp
Another Great Year for Educational Programs
2014 proved to be another exciting and prosperous year for the Education Department. The Department saw an increase in the number of school groups and students versus 2013. The number of library programs over the summer increased by 28, and the number of participants in these programs more than tripled! When it comes to Space Camp 2014, 52 children in grades 2nd-7th participated. Last year, that number was 23. Some highlights from 2014: January brought the start of the Armstrong Air & Space Museum outreach program at Hardin-Houston Schools. Educators worked with gifted 3rd graders to cover topics such as inhabiting another planet, building lunar rovers, landing on Mars, building rockets and more. The program ended in March with students visiting the Museum to participate in a tour and more activities. The program culminated with the students launching their rockets on the Museum grounds. Another enrichment program started in March with 3rd grade gifted students at Botkins Schools. Students worked on projects similar to the ones at Hardin-Houston. This group’s program culminated in May again with the launch of the model rockets they built. At the 2014 Ohio Museums Association annual conference, the Armstrong Air & Space Museum was awarded with Best
Educator Emily Richard and other Education Outreach for the Shelby County enrichment program award winners at the Ohio Museums detailed above. Association awards banquet in Athens. March, April and May started to pick up with more school groups booking tours with the Museum (see page 6). Fun fact: 48% of school group tours are booked in April and May. June and July kept the Education Department busy with several library programs (libraries listed on opposite page). The theme for summer reading was “Fizz, Boom, Read”. The children
Educator Emily Richard participated in science themed activities such as: model rocket and space camper launches, Oreo moon phases, building lunar rovers, making launch a model rocket constellation finders and more!
4 July brought the annual Summer Moon Festival. The Education Department participates every year by having several activities available, under a tent, for children of all ages. Some highlights this year were clothespin airplanes, paper copters, LEGO creations, bubble factory, and the inflatable planetarium. August was our annual Space Camp with a record 52 campers! Campers followed the theme of astronaut training, participating in astronaut physical training, obstacle course, model airplane Space Campers return from flying at Neil Armstrong Airport. building, hovercraft building, presentation from an RC airplane enthusiast, and getting to fly in an airplane at the Neil Armstrong Airport. September and October saw several group tours but the Education Department stayed busy with enrichment programs at Jackson Center Schools and Indian Lake Schools. Educators worked with gifted 4th graders are both schools. The Jackson Center program lasted 10 weeks and Indian Lake immediately re-upped for two consecutive semi-weekly programs. October allowed the Museum to reach out to the community; General Aluminum in Wapakoneta invited the museum to its first employee picnic. Over 400 people attended!
Emily Richard drops a student-built device intended to protect an egg cargo. 2014 Library Programs St. Marys Library Versailles Library Cridersville Library North Lewisburg Library Waynesfield Library Champaign County Library New Bremen Library Mt. Victory Library FJ Stallo Library Alger Library New Knoxville Library Ft Recovery Library New Carlisle Library Delphos Public Library Upper Sandusky Library Beavercreek Library Bluffton Library Hicksville Library Wapakoneta Library Defiance Library Coldwater Library Sherwood Library North Baltimore Library Fairborn Library A touring class from Tennessee Ridgeway Library
Space Campers on tour
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What Visitors Are Saying… Museum Statistics Every individual visitor and tour group leader has the January 1 - December 31, 2014 opportunity and is encouraged to provide written and verbal
Attendance: 29,265 feedback on any aspect of the museum experience. Visitors States in Attendance: 50 completed 24 surveys in 2014. Respondents evaluated Nations in Attendance: 54+ individual elements of the experience: site staff, cleanliness,
exhibits, accommodations, and museum store. Each rating Adult Tours: 18 was given numeric values: excellent 3, good 2, average 1, and Senior Tour Members: 178 poor 0 and averaged. Adult Tour Members: 272
3 School Groups: 73 Students: 2,181 2.5
Scout Troops 9 2 Scouts: 137 Interactive Programs: 39 1.5
IP Participants: 1,411 1 Outreach Programs: 24 Outreach participants: 871 0.5
Library programs: 34 0 Library participants: 896 Staff Museum Store Overall experience Exhibits Cleanliness Accommodations
Admission Income: $155,333 Sales Income: $131,704
Attendance Website visits: 52,414 Attendance decreased slightly for the second straight year (3 .5%) Unique visitors: 42,046 but was still far higher than attendance in 2011 (115%). Total pageviews: 196,289 Five organizations rented the museum or classroom for afterhours New Facebook likes: 1057 net activities and family gatherings. Additionally, General Aluminum Mfg. contracted with the education department to entertain its Membership: 79 staff and guests during its first employee picnic, the museum Volunteer hours: 969.25 hosted the local public library for story time in April, and local NBC Top volunteer: Burt Peterson affiliate WLIO used the museum for its evening news broadcast on May 1.
Nations added to the map in 2014 include Angola, Argentina, Cameroon, Iran, Maldives, and Peru.
Map of Visitors Since May 27, 2010, visitors have marked one of two maps in the museum to indicate their birthplace or residency. The red areas represent nations from where visitors have come.
6 Capital Campaign: A Dream Realized
Community members pledged over $130,000 toward the Association’s first fundraising campaign. In 2012, the first-phase Interstate sign was completed, with access doors, electrical outlets, and weather-proof cap installed. Interstate signage is the number one driver of visitation, according to in-house surveys.
The Association broke ground on the second phase of the campaign this July. The Tranquility Base Picnic Pavilion was completed in September and hopes to welcome dozens of school visits next spring and in the years to come.
Financial Summary
The Armstrong Air and Space Museum Association is a tax-exempt organization, and all donations are tax deductible.
While final museum expenditures are not yet available, receipts for 2014 exceeded expenses by $16,000.
2014 Budget—Expenses Salary and Benefits $ 157,000 Retail Merchandise $ 75,000 Utilities $ 30,000 Marketing $ 32,600 Contingency $ 10,000 2014 Actual Income, Education $ 12,000 Operating Fund
Administration $ 8,000 Admissions: $155,333 Special Events $ 13,000 Store Sales: $131,704 Maintenance & Supplies $ 10,000 Programming: $9,000 Fund Raising $ 5,000 Exhibits & Collections $ 6,000 OHC Stipend: $60,000 Janitorial $ 4,000 Memberships: $2,555 Professional Services $ 3,000 Donations: $4,000 Membership $ 500 Other Income: $8,000
Total Income (est.): $370,592 Total Budgeted Expenses $366,100 99.1% of 2014 budget estimate
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Lima Area Concert Band at the Summer Moon Festival
Santa in a hot air balloon and Special Occasions a Saturn V rocket were This year marked the 45th anniversary of the first lunar landing. added to the Holiday Lights Appropriately that celebration, the Summer Moon Festival, Display. dominated the summer. The festival featured two astronauts
Biographer for the first time. Thousands turned out to meet Greg Johnson James Hansen and Sunita Williams, Run to the Moon, launch model rockets, discusses Neil Armstrong see the robot from Lost in Space, ride in a hot air balloon, with a crowd that included battle Jawas and stormtroopers, and hear the Lima Area classmates and friends. Concert Band perform. The Museum spared no expense on this milestone anniversary as it now prepares for the 50th in 2019. Staff created two new tours to highlight space exploration as seen in the movies and seldom-told stories. Biographer James Hansen returned to Wapakoneta to reminisce about Neil Armstrong and converse with the locals. In cooperation with the County Libraries, the museum hosted a special screening of the acclaimed film Gravity. Boo! on the Moon was also tremendously successful, anchoring the new Wapakoneta Halloween celebration. 150 visitors, including nearly 90 children, poured through the museum in just 2 hours. The final event of the year, the Holiday Lights Display, Introduced two new light features – both financed entirely by donations. Noon Optimists and kids celebrate Halloween in the new picnic pavilion.
Volunteer Bev Davies leads children in a sing-song story during Boo! on the Moon.
Astronaut Suni Williams completes the Run to the Moon 10k race. 8 Marketing the Museum The Museum unveiled its first ever billboard, near Sidney, beaconing travelers from the Dayton area. Thousands of rack cards and brochures were again distributed across several states at other museums and historic sites, hotels, and at public buildings. Museum staff continued the e-newsletter Phases to Association members, the media, and those who provided their e-mail address through the museum’s website. The website enjoyed 42,046 unique visitors in 2014, over 7,000 more than the previous year. Additions and updates throughout New signs announce the museum at Apollo Drive and the year continue to drive potential visitors to the page. The on Bellefontaine Street museum’s Facebook page surpassed 4,200 likes at year-end, up 1057 from the end of 2013. Over 5,000 individuals have now “checked in” using the Facebook app. WLIO-TV broadcast live on remote in May, drawing thousands of eyes to the Armstrong Museum.
The billboard located just south of Sidney alerts northbound I-75 drivers to the upcoming museum.
A Lexington, Ken- tucky TV news crew interviews Emily Richard while watching the Mars rover operate.
Collaboration This year, the museum developed new partnerships and continued many long-standing relationships with non- profit organizations, schools, museums, and clubs. The Association would like to thank all those organizations that worked with the museum in 2012.
Ohio History Aviation Heritage Wapakoneta City Schools EAA Young Eagles Connection Foundation
Shelby County Educational Great Lakes Base & Neil Armstrong Airport Blues Traveler Service Center Ohio Garrison Auglaize County Public Botkins Local Schools Columbus Rocket Society Sunita Williams District Library
Ohio Northern University TJ Professor James NASA Glenn Col. Gregory H. Smull College of Engineering Hansen Research Center Johnson
Additionally, the museum supported over 100 schools, youth groups, libraries, churches, and other non-profits organizations with donations for raffles, silent auctions, and other fund raisers. With the Auglaize County District Public Library’s free passes, these memberships spread awareness of the museum across several states, supported positive causes, and made museum admission available to all income levels.
9 Developing the Best Staff
Due to increased attendance, the museum was able to increase staffing hours for 2014, maintaining staff added in the previous year. Below are profiles of our current staff — the people who make the muse- um a success.
Bonnie Adair, Wapakoneta — GUEST SERVICES REP- Emily Richard, Katelyn Poland, Scott RESENTATIVE Walton, and Bonnie Adair Bonnie has been a Wapak resident since 1975. She was previously employed by the Lima City Schools.
Sheila Fowler, Wapakoneta — GUEST SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE Shelia has lived in Wapakoneta since 1970 when she relocated from Indiana with her husband Wayne. She also coordinates museum rentals.
Christopher Moynihan, Wapakoneta — EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING SPECIALIST Chris returned to the museum on a regular basis over the summer. Chris works with our enrichment program, is one of our Young Astronaut instructors, and recently took over the volunteer program.
Lorie Peterson, Wapakoneta — GUEST SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE Lorie lived in 7 states before moving to Wapakoneta over a decade ago. Her husband Burt is the museum’s most prolific volunteer.
Katelyn Poland, Zanesfield—EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING SPECIALIST Kati worked with the museum part-time until August when she began her traditional classroom teaching career.
Emily Richárd, Wapakoneta — MUSEUM EDUCATOR Emily has been the museum educator since 2012. This year she became the vice president for the Wapakoneta Noon Optimists. Emily directs the school tour program and annual Space Camp and is a Young Astronaut instructor.
Kathy Tatro, Cridersville — GUEST SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE Kathy returned to Ohio in 2014 from California. She joined the museum in January.
Scott Walton, Wapakoneta — FACILITIES MANAGER Scott has 17 years of experience in janitorial and maintenance trades. He is also a collector of Star Trek memorabilia. Volunteers at Work
Fulfilling the mission of the museum is not possible with paid staff alone. Volunteers are necessary for daily operations, major projects, and educational programs. Volunteers mowed the massive lawn, supported the Summer Moon Festival, delivered tours, assisted with large school groups, and organized the museum’s archival collections. Twenty- seven individuals and two organizations donated over 1,500 hours this year. Burt Peterson was the leading volunteer, as he has been each of the last four years. Three new volunteers joined the museum. The Apollo Corps of volunteers boasts high school students, board members, Honda engineers, retirees, college interns, spouses, and 9-5 workers. 10 City of Wapakoneta crew excavates the failed storm basin Facilities in preparation for a poured The greatest improvement was the construction concrete box. of the Tranquility Base Picnic Pavilion. Aside from providing shelter for school groups and special events, the project also provided electricity to the area north of the main sidewalk. Workers pour the concrete slab under the assembled A host of employees and volunteers stepped up pavilion. in January to address the consequences of an interior water pipe that ruptured due to the extreme cold. Staff pumped out water, threw out damaged items, dried carpet, and replaced benches. Other 2014 projects included the reconstruction of a drainage basin, the addition of an outdoor electrical outlet, and construction of three mini golf holes for Summer Moon Festival and other special events.
Armstrong Air and Space Museum Association Did you know Association members come from 12 states 2014 Members and one Canadian province? Auglaize & Mercer Counties Ashley & Kevin Heilers Anita & Jessie Miller H. Simmons CVB Jim & Jan Heinrich Rodney & Sheila Metz Allen Solomon Don Arnett Michael Hensley Susan Miller SW Auglaize County Joseph & Jemima Arthur Chamber Rachel & Matt Hewlett Greg Myers Matt Bailey St. Marys Chamber of Thomas Hillman Chuck & Anne Niemeyer Commerce Amanda Bantner Josh Hines Kraig Noble Sean Stroh Rachel Barber Robert & Janet Hoehn North Baltimore Public Joe & Shelley Swaney Shauna Borger Library Ken Hogan Jane & Euardo Trejo Dawne Buchholz Burt & Lorie Peterson Gary Hollenbaugh Kathleen Valenti Chris & Andrea Burton Edward C. Preston Gregory Hord Sarah Walsh Barbara A. Cain L. Joe & Courtney Quick Evelyn K. Jackson Wapakoneta Area Chamber Chuck Coleman Don Regula Tim & Diane Janssen John & Gloria Weese Jennifer & Michael Joan Reylek Dahlstrom Robert E. & Deborah Jones Misti Wilson Dr. James Robenstine# Brian & Susan Daly Xiaoli Li & Alex Kudera Chuck Wolfe Marge Rove John J. Duka Sr. Denise & Brian Lambert Stephanie Woolley Steve & Emily Ruffner Justin Falin Joseph & Judy Lenhart Brian Yanagitani Katherine Rupp Tom & Sarah Finkelmeier Vince Majro Adam Sackowitz John & Deb Zwez Jennifer & Aaron Flesher Hemraj & Nimisha Makwana John & Mindy Shaffer # denotes Life Member John Gately ^ denotes Payload Specialist Donne J. Matheney Matthew & Johnna Sarah Harper Schaffer Jeremiah & Jennifer Don Harrod Mattingly Richard Schatz Douglas & Barbara Alberta McCelland Todd Sidle THANK YOU! Heighton 11 THANK YOU, Capital Campaign Donors!
The Eagle * IDI, Inc. Mesco Electrical Supply
Honda of America Mfg. Wapakoneta KOA Niswonger Chevrolet AMETEK Westchester Plastics Astronaut* PT Works G.A. Wintzer and Son Co. Baumer Construction R & M Farms Kay Nolte, in memory of Stan Nolte Block Insurance Agency Dean Rallof Setex Charles & Sandy Brading Speckman Automotive Columbia* Marion Burton St. Marys Education Association
Heinrich Family Foundation City of Wapakoneta Trupointe Grand Lake Health System Finkelmeier Insurance Agency Wapak Monuments TSC Garmann/Miller & Associates John & Deb Zwez
Wapakoneta Rotary Club General Aluminum Manufacturing Other Donors Apollo* Kaleb Helms Altrurian Club of Celina
First National Bank in Wapakoneta Josh & Sara Hines Rex Katterheinrich Fort Inc. McDonalds Restaurants Matthew M. Jose, M.D. Guiding Mothers OCCL Home Savings Bank Greg Myers Dwight Steinke Lima Communications Corp Kraig Noble Wapakoneta AMVETS Lima News Schlenker Developments *Denotes level of giving, including in-kind support NK Telco St. Henry Tile Peterson Construction St. Marys Foundry
Superior Federal Credit Union Jason This Time Warner Cable Robert Wiesenmayer Wapakoneta Daily News Mission Specialist* Van & Tracey Wright Auglaize Family Dental Gemini* Cornerstone Rehabilitation
Joseph & Judy Lenhart Timothy & Sandra Drake Rodney Metz Friends of the F.O.E. #691 Minster Bank Jean Forsythe St. Marys CIC Mark & Donna Grube Mercury* Keith Horner KAPOW Club Sarah & Thomas Finkelmeier, Jr. Kogge Plumbing & Heating First National Bank of New Bremen Don Jump 12