Prairie Fire Museum Field Trip, by Lily O., Junior Yearbook Staff

Appearances can be deceiving, that statement comes to life at the Prairie Fire Museum at 135th and Nall. A building made of 10,000 hand painted metal panels and over 258 one-of-a-kind dichroic sheets of glass. How it looks on the outside is quite different to the inte­rior view. The use of individual sheets of dichroic glass creates a contrasting color depending on the light­ing. So while the outside resembles a prairie fire consisting of warm oranges, golds, reds, and yellows, when one steps into the museum the glass takes on a colder hue with shades of blues, purples, and grays.

Heather Manning said, “I really liked the exterior of the building because I thought the way the glass changed colors from the outside to the inside was very pretty.

This unique building cost $30 million to create.  The students of Accelerated Schools of Overland Park had the pleasure of touring this new addition to the Midwest on September 11. The museum houses unique expositions on loan from its affiliated museum, New York Museum of Natural History, which is the famous museum in Central Park that is the focus of the 2006 movie, “A Night at the Museum.”   Each exhibit remains at Prairie Fire for 4 to 5 months. When an exhibit arrives it is displayed in an 8,000 square foot room for visitors to enjoy.

When the students were visiting Prairie Fire, the exposition was “Mythic Creatures.”  It featured information on dragons, unicorns, and mermaids. The exhibit rooms were full of interesting facts, many life ­size sculptures, and an enormous amount of information for the students to read or watch via video. While some of the information is created from pure imagination, most of the myths were also tied to something factual. The students were able to explore the exhibits that included multiple artifacts. Roaming around the room students stopped to appreciate the visuals, interactive games, and facts given at each station. All in all this field trip was a success with each student leaving having learned something new. The Prairie Fire Museum offers unique sights that everyone can enjoy.


(Photo by student Heather M.)