ELKHART — The new ETHOS Science Center has holograms, robotics labs and augmented reality stations in a science museum.
In May, nearly every school day will mean field trips of local students coming to use the facility to learn more about science and its role in their lives and future employment.
In a few of the corners, students can learn about how science and Elkhart history are intertwined. How a woman named Helen Free was a leading scientist nationally. How Alka-Seltzer helped people with headaches and upset stomachs.
Many of the students coming to the ETHOS Science Center, at 1025 N. Michigan Street, may not already know what Alka-Seltzer is, much less the story of how it was invented in Elkhart.
They may not know that Miles Laboratories and other businesses in town produced aspirin and vitamins and provided jobs to generations of employees.
Miles eventually became part of Bayer Corp. The campus on the northeast side of Elkhart was home to both for decades before Bayer left Elkhart entirely in the last several years.
Now, ETHOS, which was formed in 2001, is ready to open its newly revamped science center in a building that once housed Bayer and was donated to ETHOS by the company.
But $8.2 million was needed to renovate 65,000 square feet and add another 35,000 square feet of warehouse space, according to Patsy Boehler, ETHOS executive director.