WASHINGTON -- First lady Michelle Obama gave hugs and a medal to representatives of the Mid-America Science Museum on Wednesday during a ceremony at the White House.
The Hot Springs museum was one of 10 institutions nationwide to receive the 2016 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, "the highest award given to museums and libraries for service to the community," officials said.
"You all are doing such inspiring, innovative and impactful work, and we are incredibly proud of everything you all have been doing. So enjoy this moment -- and don't be nervous," Obama told the 10 honorees.
The framed medal and certificate, which Obama presented, will be shipped from the capital to Garland County and will go on display as early as this weekend, museum Executive Director Diane LaFollette said.
Each of the museums and libraries also receives $5,000 "in recognition of their extraordinary civic, educational, economic, environmental and social contributions."
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., whose 4th Congressional District includes Hot Springs, nominated the museum for the award.
"The museum's 2016 national medal confirms what we in Arkansas have known for many years, that Mid-America is a world-class museum, providing a world-class educational experience to Arkansas' next generation," he said.
Obama met with the winners privately to offer her congratulations and a few words of encouragement.
"She said, 'Keep up the good work,'" LaFollette said.
The rest is a little fuzzy, she said.
"It was such a blur. I had tears in my eyes. I was star struck. She's a wonderful magnificent lady and it was wonderful to meet her, but I can't remember everything. It went so fast," LaFollette said.
Casey Wylie, a fifth-grade science instructor at Hot Springs Intermediate School and Mid-America's former educational programs coordinator, also joined Obama onstage.
The White House trip is "kind of like a cosmic sign telling me that I made the right choice and I made the right decision to leave the museum family that I loved so much and move into doing something bigger and better," Wylie said.
Mid-America, which was founded in 1979, describes itself as Arkansas' "oldest and largest science center."
The 65,000-square-foot museum, located on 21 wooded acres, reopened in March 2015 after major renovations.
A $7.8 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation helped pay for the work.
The museum, which has more than 100 hands-on exhibits, drew 125,000 visitors during the fiscal year ending April 30, LaFollette said.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services, which presents the award, said Mid-America is based in an "area of the country that is plagued by high poverty, low achievement scores, and dwindling resources [and] 70 percent of the museum's student visitors are statistically impoverished, underserved and underperforming."
The institute offers federal assistance for the country's 35,000 museums and 123,000 libraries.
Other winners included: The Brooklyn Public Library; the Chicago History Museum; the Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina; Lynn Meadows Discovery Center for Children in Gulfport, Miss.; Madison Public Library in Wisconsin; North Carolina State University Libraries in Raleigh; Otis Library in Norwich, Conn.; Santa Ana Public Library in California; and Tomaquag Museum in Exeter, R.I.
Metro on 06/02/2016