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Dinosaur Center summer programs

The Wyoming Dinosaur Center is accepting scholarship nominations, to attend the June 9 Kids’ Dig. The all-day experience provides children a look at what it is to be a paleontologist. In addition to activities at the center, they will also get to dig in one of the quarries and collect invertebrate fossils from the Sundance Sea formation.

The scholarships pay for the recipients to go on the Kids’ Dig. Nominees must be from Hot Springs County, be age 8-12 and not have participated in a prior Kids’ Dig.

The center is also accepting applications from high school students to attend the summertime Dinosaur Academy, a weeklong, intensive “hands-on” program for students interested in paleontology. Students work alongside paleontologists and technicians at the center, both in the field, excavating fossil dinosaur bones from its local Thermopolis dig sites, and in the laboratory, cleaning and preparing excavated specimens.

The session is scheduled for Monday through Friday, July 10-14, with orientation on Sunday evening, July 9. College credit is available.

“This integrated program is designed for students who want to pursue a career in the Earth sciences,” according to Education Programs Director Jessica Lippincott. “It has paved the way for many people who have successfully obtained degrees in geology and paleontology.”

The training offers a comprehensive experience that, aside from field and lab experience, introduces high school students to geologic concepts related to fossil discovery, to biologic principles related to dinosaur anatomy, evolution, and classification, to replica casting techniques, and collection procedures.

To learn more about the Dinosaur Academy experience, students and parents can contact the Wyoming Dinosaur Center at 864-2997 or 800-455-3466. Enrollment is limited.

 

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