While working as the Communications Specialist for the City of Gaffney’s Marketing and Tourism Department, I was assigned as the Project Manager for Gaffney grant-funded exhibition of the Smithsonian traveling exhibit, “Spark! Places of Innovation”, as well as the “Youth Innovation in Rural America” program.

I designed and built an immersive and interactive auxiliary exhibit that showcased innovation throughout Gaffney’s history. Exhibit pieces included Carolina Wren and Carolina Parakeet animatronics, an RFID colonial "grasshopper" cannon, Virtual Reality Revolutionary War Pop-Up Books, hydraulic machines, a 3D print of Gaffney’s Main Street, and an LED inner-working of the Peachoid Water Tower. 

Over 15 general public programs and 11 field trips were organized to engage students, families, and community members with Gaffney's historic innovation and future possibilities. Programs included:

• Ferry Boat Innovation: From Colonial to Robotic

• Heroes of Hurricane Helene: Hydraulic Pop-Up Books

• Innovate Main Street: Downtown Business Showcase

• T-Bridge Construction Challenge

• Robotic Sphero Art

• Automated Plant Watering Systems: Preserving Gaffney's Parks

• Mark Twain's Take on the Industrial Revolution in Gaffney

• Putting Together a Timeline of Gaffney's History - with Dr. Carmen Harris

• National Inventor's Day at the Cherokee County Museum

• LEDs in the Community (in partnership with the Gaffney Police Department)