Clay Center unveils new mobile exhibit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Clay Center introduced a new way of learning Thursday. Officials unveiled a new exhibit, but this time it’s on wheels.

The “Power Your Future” mobile exhibit, housed in a trailer, will travel to schools throughout West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio 100-200 days per year to provide students educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math (S.T.E.M.).

The $1.2 million exhibit was revealed at a ribbon-cutting outside the Clay Center Thursday.

The exhibit uses competitive video game-based software to provide 10 different interactive stations for students to explore. After students complete the experience, they will be shown careers that are selected based on their interests.

Al Najjar, president and CEO of the Clay Center, said their goal is set students up for the future by encouraging them to pursue jobs in natural gas.

“It’s an industry that we need. We need energy, we need cars, we need to heat our homes, we need to have power plants that use natural gas and this vehicle will allow us to do that,” said Najjar.

Najjar said students will be able to step outside the classroom and into an exhibit parked in front of their schools that can offer the hands-on experience needed to pursue these types of careers. He said one of the activities allows a student to act as a driller with another student.

“You are the operator–you can measure the pressure and talk on the telephone to the guy who’s doing the drilling, so that they can really understand what the people working in the field go through.”

Najjar said natural gas and oil expiration is effecting the economy and unemployment rate tremendously across the state, so they wanted to turn what’s been said in the media into a context that is more focused on education in schools.

“We wanted to tell that story from the point of view of science and technology and what goes behind producing gas and transporting it,” he said.

Najjar said the experience doesn’t just end with what’s inside the truck. They offer work shops inside the classroom as well including material they hand out to teachers, so they can prepare for the visit.

In a news release, the Clay Center stated the expandable trailer can be set up in 30 minutes and will be able to travel to schools, libraries, senior centers, fairs, festivals and other community events throughout the region, scheduled to begin in the next few weeks.

Energy Corporation of America and and the EGT Foundation sponsored the project.