“We wanted a space where students could dream big,” said Tim McMichael, whose family provided lead funding for the Gallery. “This is about showing young people that innovation isn’t just something they read about, it’s something they can do. Corvette is the perfect vehicle for that inspiration.”

• Built around the Museum’s education mission to ignite curiosity, fuel innovation, and inspire the next generation, the Museum, and McMichael Family Education Gallery has welcomed more than 215 school groups, an average of three per week, introducing students and educators alike to the legacy, design, and innovation of America’s Sports Car.

• In just two years, the Gallery has engaged nearly 8,500 students in hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) programming. If gathered in one place, these young learners could fill the lower bowl of Rupp Arena or pack over 100 school buses lined up bumper to bumper, a convoy of future Corvette fans stretching for miles.

• Through interactive stations and digital design tools, students have created nearly 40,000 digital concept cars, the equivalent of Corvette’s 2016 production run.

“The McMichael Family Education Gallery isn’t just an exhibition, it’s the heartbeat of our mission,” explained Robert Maxhimer, National Corvette Museum Director of Curatorial Affairs and Education. “It brings Corvette’s legacy of innovation into a space where students can learn by doing, imagining, and creating. Every hands-on experience here is designed to connect the past, present, and future of automotive excellence, showing young minds that they have a place in that story. This gallery is where curiosity meets possibility and what makes it so central to everything we do.”

The 2024 National Corvette Museum Annual Report also highlights the Museum’s Fund a Field Trip initiative, which provided access for 28 schools and groups and 1,414 students to visit the Museum and the McMichael Family Education Gallery at reduced or no cost. This program, made possible by generous National Corvette Museum Members and donors, expands access and ensures students from all backgrounds can engage with the Corvette legacy.

To learn more about the National Corvette Museum’s education initiatives and explore the full scope of its mission-driven work, view the entire 2024 Annual Report. If you are an educator interested in visiting the National Corvette Museum with a school group, please visit corvettemuseum.org/education/.

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In recent years, we saw our Fund A Field Trip campaign come to fruition. This campaign allows us to offset the cost of field trips to the National Corvette Museum for local school groups in underserved areas. Unfortunately, with budget cuts and school funding shortages, many students in our community do not have the opportunity to take field trips. The National Corvette Museum is committed to the needs of all students and educators who want to visit, and we’re asking for your assistance in removing some of the financial roadblocks.

Our Fund A Field Trip campaign co-aligned with the opening of our McMichael Family Education Gallery this year. The exhibit allows the museum to provide a state-of-the-art educational experience geared directly to the next generation of Corvette enthusiasts, engineers, designers, and more.

We have a goal of raising $15,000 during Giving Tuesday for our Fund a Field Trip program. If this goal is met, it will help sustain our campaign until 2026. This sustainability goal is made possible through the gracious donation to this campaign by Elfi’s Silver Pearl Sisterhood earlier this year.

Please consider helping us Fund a Field Trip for a group of deserving students. Your tax-deductible gift can be life-changing for those visiting our Museum, and can inspire a child who might otherwise have been denied the opportunity to get a glimpse of what it could be like to become an engineer or a future Corvette designer.

We offer various donation methods to make it as convenient as possible for you. Donate online by using our Fund A Field Trip form on our website, by phone, or in person at the National Corvette Museum. All donations are tax-deductible, and individuals who donate will receive their donation documentation before the end of tax season.

Find additional program information and donation form here.

To find out more information on the Giving Tuesday movement, visit their website here.

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The National Corvette Museum (NCM) is pleased to announce plans for a fully reimagined, 2,000-square-foot dedicated education gallery.  The new space, tentatively scheduled to open in late 2022/early 2023, will allow the NCM to provide a state-of-the-art educational experience geared directly to the next generation of Corvette enthusiasts, engineers, designers, and more.

The General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan will serve as the design inspiration for the National Corvette Museum’s new Education Gallery. Just as the Tech Center has served as a beacon of inspiration, so too will this new gallery space.

Plans are being created by Sewell and Sewell Architects, and the gallery is being constructed by Scott, Murphy & Daniel. Tapped to assist in the design of the space is Tom Peters, former Director of Exterior Design for the GM Performance Car Studio and 2019 Corvette Hall of Fame Inductee. The General Motors Technical Center is the inspiration for the overall design theme of the updated gallery.

According to Deb Howard, Museum Educator, “The new education gallery will be designed for both children and adults to enjoy, featuring artifacts and interactive technology celebrating the unique story of Corvette.  The new space will not only serve guests visiting from out of town with youth-centric content for families to enjoy, but it will also serve as a space to engage our local community schools with standards-based STREAM education, learning opportunities, and new educational programming.”

This exciting project is made possible by the generosity of donors Tim and Melanie McMichael of Gypsum, Colorado. According to Tim, “It has always been our dream to be a part of an educational experience that could spark a fire or be the catalyst for a child to see that it is possible for them to do or be anything in the world – from an astronaut, to a doctor, to a car designer.” Melanie continued, “A children’s education gallery will provide a different lens for children to view how a car works and possibly change the way they think and, even further, instill in them a passion that will push them to do something amazing with their lives.”

Sharon Brawner, President and CEO of the National Corvette Museum, echoed the sentiments of the McMichael’s. “Whether we are teaching our youngest visitors on a student field trip or welcoming motorcoaches full of tourists from states away, the goal of the National Corvette Museum is to inspire our guests and leave them wanting to know more. This new gallery will educate, engage, and entertain our guests, and we thank Tim and Melanie McMichael for their generosity in helping us realize this vision.”

Construction on the education gallery is set to begin in late May. Interested in donating to this fund? Click here or contact Bobbie Jo Lee, Donor Relations Coordinator.

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Last fall NCRS and NCM announced a collaboration to provide a higher education scholarship. Application submissions opened in January with several being received from across the country. Earning the award was Samuel Amurgis of Columbus, OH, who plans to attend Ohio State University in the fall, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Samuel is very involved in both school and community activities, including athletics, clubs, mentoring, research projects and entrepreneurship. “His leadership skills, character and work ethic were clearly expressed in his application and short essay,” shared Deb Howard, Museum Education Coordinator. Samuel’s grandparents, Bruce and Deborah Brungard, are members of the Museum.

Samuel Amurgis, 2020 NCRS/NCM Scholarship Recipient

“I would like to thank the National Corvette Restorers Society and the National Corvette Museum for their support,” said Samuel. “By helping kids who are going into a field of study related to automobiles, they are making a difference for the future of cars! I couldn’t be more excited to go to [Ohio State] because of the amazing reputation they have, as well as the many opportunities I will find after graduation. My hope is that once we’re allowed to, I can take a trip to Bowling Green with my Grandpa. He’s the one that started my interest in cars, so I would love to share that moment with you.”

We asked applicants to submit an essay on their vision to attract a new generation of car enthusiasts. Here we share Samuel’s essay.

“I was never a real car enthusiast until recently. Once I reached my 16^th birthday, I began to take an interest in cars because I could finally operate one. My grandpa gave me an old Buick Century that year. I was immensely grateful to have my own mode of transportation, but this car had many problems as well. From windows falling down to a rear-view mirror falling off, this car was certainly not in its best shape. I would ride around in my other friends’ cars and realize how many amazing features and functions they had. Most had been around for years, but I had only just noticed them. From that point on, I had dreamed of combining my favorite features from each car into my own design so that the car would really feel like ‘mine.’

In this new age of customization, nearly everything can be made to one’s liking. One example I like to use for this is one of my other hobbies – video games. Many companies around the globe are developing virtual / augmented reality systems. These systems allow their users to redesign themselves in this new world. Since it runs through the internet, the options for style, features, and even species are practically limitless. Users can customize their looks at any given moment, giving them full power over the experience they wish to have.

This ability to personalize nearly anything, however, doesn’t stop here. It expands to shoes, where Nike allows customers to design their own colors and patterns for their favorite shoes online to then be assembled and shipped. It expands to smartphones and computers, where every screen can have a different background. It even expands to our homes with the idea of ‘Smart Lights’ and Amazon’s Alexa. As we develop more and more technology, our customization only increases.

The point of all of this is that the new generation of car owners enjoy the idea of customization. They have grown accustomed to the idea that things in their life can be made exactly how they wish. If we want to generate more interest in cars, then they should add the ability to be more customizable as well. Not just the body style or paint color, but internal details as well.

Elon Musk’s company, Tesla, has made some good strides in this direction already, which is why they are very popular amongst younger audiences such as my own. They currently have an option to customize various physical aspects of the Model S, X and 3. Sure, other car companies have this too, but it is the non-physical aspects that intrigue me. Due to the high amount of technology found within a Tesla (practically a fully functioning touch-screen computer), there is so much about the software that can be customized. My favorite example of this is that Musk teased that he may release the customization of horn sounds, which I absolutely love.

What I believe car companies should do to inspire new car enthusiasts is to play into their interest. In order to do this, car companies should work on an event where anybody can come in and create and test out their own car.  Through the power of virtual reality, we will reach a point where all aspects are realistic enough that they mirror those of the real world. Once we reach this point, then this event will draw the attention of many from younger generations. The advantages of this event is that customers will be able to hand-tailor their own virtual car, and then take it for a test drive to see how it runs. At this point, they should then be able to place an order for the car to the customizations they decided on. This way, companies can produce a car they know the customer will like because he or she has already tested it out. This event would help draw in new car enthusiasts because they will feel a more personal connection with the car, as it was their creation.”

“NCRS is pleased to financially support this scholarship opportunity through the National Corvette Museum,” said Carlton Colclough, NCRS representative on the NCM Board. “Samuel has a true passion for cars, and he’s the perfect candidate to receive this award. We hope one day he is a Corvette owner and becomes involved with both of our organizations.”

Learn more about the NCRS sponsored scholarship and how to apply for 2021’s award at corvettemuseum.org/scholarship.

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