Tuesday, September 25, 2007

More than 10,000 students scheduled to see T. rex at Anniston Museum of Natural History

09-25-2007
A group of students, above and below, from Saks Middle School tour the Sue exhibit at the Anniston Museum of Natural History. Photo: Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

School officials have found a new way to make teachers feel younger.

They let students learn something from a real fossil.

Sue, the cast skeleton of a 65-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex on display at the Anniston Museum of Natural History, will be visited by thousands of school children during her four-month stay. Most of the students would make little more than a snack for the 15-foot-tall carnivore.

Museum officials said schools in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi already have booked enough tours to ensure that more than 10,000 students will see Sue over the 15 weeks the skeleton is on display here. The museum normally brings in about 10,000 to 12,000 in an entire year.

"The schools are really excited about it," said the museum's marketing manager, Margie Conner. "It's a great opportunity for their students to have some science up close and personal."

The first group to visit only had to cross McClellan Boulevard.

Saks Middle School brought all 400 students to the museum. Principal Wendy England said it was the first time in 30 years that the entire school had gone on a trip together.

See the full story here.

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