About
Mission
To be a fun place to expand minds through hands-on experiences, for kids of all ages.
We are living out this mission by providing a welcoming and inclusive center that offers a wide range of hands-on exhibits. Our rotating exhibits are designed to engage, educate, and inspire a wide age range of guests (including parents and grandparents).
Vision
COGNiTiON will create a science playground that captivates a community and life long learners.
Since opening in 2017, increasing numbers of residents, visitors, and school groups have visited us to learn and explore. Now, a planetarium joins the lists of exhibits to see in the continuously developing discovery center. The vision is thriving.
History
COGNiTiON was started by Benzie mother-daughter duo in 2017, and grew with exponential community support. The center serves thousands of guests, hundreds of members, eight counties, and is open year-round.
We value life-long education, STEM, art, opportunities for all, community, creativity, intergenerational connections, social skill development, parental support, local businesses, Benzie County, our inspiring natural resources and you.
COGNiTiON is funded by daily admission and membership fees, program services, a small gift shop, and community support. In order to keep prices affordable for families, in accordance with similar centers in the state, we rely on individual contributions for about 30% of our annual operating budget.
Our original location was in downtown Beulah in 800 sq. ft of retail space next to the post office. After two years of filling the small space with families and activity stations, we started a campaign to find a larger space.
In 2019, the John and Kay Miller family gifted us our current location — a building on US 31, across from the iconic Cherry Hut Restaurant. During the summer of 2019, while the staff, board of directors, and volunteers were leading the demolition and initial renovations of the new building, we moved into a transitional space across the highway and continued services. At this time, hundreds of hours of community support were donated to get the new building ready, with an extra hurdle of the Covid-19 pandemic beginning just before we were scheduled to open.
Meet the Team
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Kimmee Miller
Co-Founder, Executive Director
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Laura Stanwick
Co-Founder
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Kimmee has a BA in Family Life Education, college and post graduate experience in fine art, over five years working for a Nonprofit, five years of experience managing volunteers, and the life experience of being the mother to a small pack of Beulah locals. Her career includes eight years of child education experience through helping with junior and senior high youth groups and teaching elementary grades at Bay Point Community Church. Through this volunteer involvement and Children’s Ministry position she has gleaned the experiences of speaking and organizing for large groups, programing small group activities, leading a team of volunteers, retreat and day camp involvement, and being an integral part of hands-on learning. Kimmee has also gained invaluable experience and perspective from multiple human service missions within the states as well as two international projects. She has been involved in the community as a coach for 4-H youth soccer (4 yrs.) and has coached Odyssey of the Mind for two years. She maintains a level of adventure as she and her husband have six kids, and love to camp, kayak, hike, and spend long days roaming the local beaches.
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Laura’s career, through her BS in Occupational Therapy (using hands-on activities to facilitate and enhance function) brings multiple job experiences; from working in a private psychiatric facility and school-based POHI program, to multiple years working with Developmentally Disabled school-age and adult populations. She served on the Michigan Occupational Therapy Board of Management for many years and Chaired District OT organizations in the North Metro Detroit area and then in Northwestern Lower Michigan. Later, her career took a dramatic shift to hospital-based outpatient Hand Therapy, and then expanded during her last 10 years of practice at Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital to include general outpatient rehab and treatment of long term care residents. Post graduate work also includes courses in graphic art and design at Northwestern Michigan College, and marketing duties for a small company in Traverse City for several years. Laura is a mother of 2, grandmother of 10, and lives with her husband Roger, in Frankfort.
Board of Directors
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Terry Taylor
Board of Directors, President
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Rich Brauer
Board of Directors, Vice President
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Anna Gill
Board of Directors, Treasurer
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Terry has been a full-time resident of Beulah for the past three years, although he and his wife, Betsy, have been visiting the area for 30 years. They built their retirement home here in 2015. Terry was a public school teacher and administrator in Livonia, Michigan before retiring to become an educational consultant for schools across the United States and Canada. COGNiTiON caught his eye when it was still a store front in the village of Beulah. His involvement with COGNiTiON became cemented when he was asked to join the Board of Directors in 2022. Terry is also heavily involved with the Benzie Sunrise Rotary Club. He spends his time bicycling, boating, hiking, and skiing, as well as making time for visiting his seven adult children and enjoying ten grandchildren. Terry uses his leadership experience and training as an educational leader to contribute to COGNiTiON’s growth and stability as a wonderful free-flow science education environment for people in northwest Michigan.
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Rich Brauer is president of Brauer Productions, Inc., an independent film and video production company he founded in 1977 after graduating with a B.A. in Motion Picture Production and Undersea Photographic Technology from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA.
After many years of making films for a wide variety of clients, Brauer received the Michigan Filmmaker of the Year award at the 2009 Traverse City Film Festival, presented by filmmaker Michael Moore. Past recipients have been actor Jeff Daniels, writer Kurt Luedtke, and actress Christine Lahti.
Brauer has directed 8 feature films and hundreds of corporate, non-profit, educational and commercial projects. He works as a Director/DP/ and enjoys supporting independent filmmakers. He always has films in development.
He co-founded the Maritime Heritage Alliance in 1982 and the Inland Seas Education Association in 1989.
He has three adult children and 7 grandkids and lives on an old fruit farm on Old Mission Peninsula near Traverse City, Michigan.
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Anna Gill is a Financial Advisor for Edward Jones located in Benzonia. She pursued a BBA in Finance and Economics at the University of Michigan and proudly serves as our Treasurer. Anna has a deep passion for community and education. With her experience as a project manager for a nonprofit and background in childcare, she believes Cognition has the ability to make a difference in the lives of Benzie County's youth.
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Michelle Bien
Board of Directors
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Scott Ciaglaski
Board of Directors, Secretary
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Emma Hughes
Board of Directors
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Michelle Bien is the Education & Outreach Coordinator at Crooked Tree Arts Center in Traverse City. She has worked in a variety of capacities in the arts, education, and nonprofits since 2007. She has a BFA in Fine Art & Design.
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Scott is Cognition dad and neighbor. He represents a very important voice to the discovery center. He is a Warehouse Manager at St. Ambrose Cellars, and has experience working for nonprofit community gardens. Scott spent his childhood catching frogs, turtles, and salamanders along the Shiawassee river basin in Oakland County, Michigan and now raises his own son here between the Platte and Betsie rivers in Beulah, Michigan. Scott is proud to join the Board of Directors and strives to help Cognition on it's mission to inspire our next generations.
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Emma Hughes is a Michigan attorney currently working in insurance compliance at Michigan Planners in Traverse City. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, then went on to earn her J.D. from the University of Dayton School of Law. Prior to moving to Michigan, she worked on Capitol Hill at a government affairs firm specializing in national security and public policy. Emma is passionate about Northern Michigan and loves to spend time in nature hiking, paddleboarding, and taking in the beautiful views. She loves to encourage anybody that she can to 'keep it local' by buying local produce, supporting local small businesses, and enjoying all of the incredible small towns and communities that make up our wonderful land.
Volunteer
Join us on our adventure. There are many ways to be involved. No matter your allotted time to spare, interests, or talents, we would be delighted to have you on board.
Another way to help COGNiTiON is to help connect us to others and grow our network of support. Would you consider bringing some friends to the center for a scheduled free tour?