ST. THOMAS — In development for almost 3 years, the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum is one step closer to completion, thanks in part to a donation from FirstBank Virgin Islands.
Slated to open next month, the museum will be located in historic Grand Galleria in downtown Charlotte Amalie, and will focus on providing unique and inspiring experiences to children through the use of exhibits and educational programming.
Among the large variety of interactive exhibits on display will be the Giant Abacus, sponsored by FirstBank. Still widely recognized as a means of effective math learning and mental development in early childhood, the Abacus, also called a counting frame, is a bead-based calculator, dating back centuries, according to a press release the bank issued on Thursday.
“FirstBank is committed to this community and we see the Children’s Museum as an extremely important cultural resource which we are proud to support,” said Victor Santiago, FirstBank’s Eastern Caribbean region business director, who gave the donation of $3,300 to museum officials.
With the abacus exhibit, children will be able to actually move the various beads and learn to count on one of the oldest known calculators, displaying a different problem every day to be solved.
Sarah Hughes, the museum’s executive director came up with the original business concept and then approached Sarah Erickson, a co-founder, and asked her to come on board to bring the dream to life.
Feature Image: Victor Santiago presents a sponsorship check to Sarah Hughes and Sarah Erickson of Virgin Islands Children’s Museum.
Image Credit: FirstBank U.S.V.I.
Tags: firstbank, us virgin islands
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