On Monday morning at 10 a.m., a group of homeschooled students filed into the Rockville Science Center for a lesson on the intricacies of the human brain. The pupils, all younger than 12, taped together pieces of paper representing parts of the brain—amygdala and all—creating colorful “brain hats” they proudly placed atop their heads.
After more than five years, scenes like that one may come to an end at 36C Maryland Ave. Morguard Management Co., which owns and manages the property leased by the center, notified the nonprofit in late January that it would need to vacate the space to make room for another tenant.
Although Rockville Science Center has not yet been given an official move-out date, Alison Chacon, a marketing associate for the center, said May 1 is the current estimate.
Facing displacement this spring, the nonprofit is racing to secure a new space for its summer programming. In addition to summer camps for kids, the center offers programming including weekly STEM-focused lessons and afterschool programs that serve 1,300 students in kindergarten through grade 12 annually, as well as workshops and training for adults—such as a class for single mothers interested in learning how to use power tools.
“The Rockville Science Center has been a valued destination tenant at The Square for years, and we are in ongoing discussions to relocate them to a new space within the project so the community can continue to enjoy their offerings,” Heather Andrade, a representative of Morguard Management Co. said in a statement to Bethesda Today.
“We’ve rented this space from a local organization, and they’ve been great about helping us out and giving us space, but it’s not permanent,” Robin Wiener, a member of the Rockville Science Center Board of Trustees, told Bethesda Today. “If they find somebody who’s willing to pay a little more—someone who can put actual retail into the space—they have the ability to evict us.”
While the organization’s immediate need is a home for the summer, Wiener said the center has loftier goals, including finding a permanent location and raising $1 million to expand class offerings and to hire an executive director.
“We don’t want to be back in this situation again,” Wiener said. “We want to be something that’s established in the community so everybody knows where we are and what we’re doing.”
After learning of Morguard’s decision to end the center’s lease, Ulisses Santamaria, president of the nonprofit’s board of trustees, said he immediately went into action mode. “We have to start getting plans in motion,” Santamaria said. “Our path forward right now is rallying our community and their support to help us find our next location.”
Santamaria, along with students from the center’s high school program went before the Rockville City Council on Monday evening in what he described as a “call to action.”
Santamaria told Bethesda Today they appealed for the mayor and council’s support in leveraging their networks and resources “to help connect with strategic partners who can assist with space or support our fundraising campaign.”
In the meantime, it’s programming as usual at the Rockville Science Center, though the uncertainty has left neuroscientist Abdeladim Elhamdani, who led Monday morning’s class on brain function, worried about what it means for his students.
“I’ve seen kids start coming here at 8 years old and grow into middle and high school students,” he said. “Learning about the brain and mindset helps them focus and do better in school. To see that disappear—I can’t even imagine it.”