Science and Discovery Center
Our vision is to create a science playground that captivates a community and lifelong learners.
About us
COGNiTiON is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It was started by a Benzie mother-daughter duo in 2017, and grew exponentially with community support. The center serves thousands of guests, hundreds of members, eight counties and beyond, and is open year round!
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.
We value life-long education, STEM, art, opportunities for all, community, creativity, intergenerational connections, social skill development, parental support, local businesses, Benzie County, our lovely natural resources, and YOU!
History
The original location was 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, Cognition started a campaign to find a larger space.
In 2019 the John and Kay Miller family gifted a building on US 31, across from the iconic Cherry Hut Restaurant, to the nonprofit. During the summer of 2019, while the staff, board of directors, and volunteers were leading the demo and initial renovations of the new building, Cognition 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 it was scheduled to open. See the pictures below that capture some of the excitement!
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 from 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 five kids; a small backyard farm; and love to camp, 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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Helene Rhodes
Board of Directors, Secretary
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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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Helene Rhodes has been a regular and frequent visitor to the Frankfort/Benzie County area for the past 10 years since family moved into the area. Helene was introduced to COGNiTiON many years back when it was still a street-front on Benzie Blvd, and recalls asking with wonder "what is THAT place?" Helene's background in k-12 education, business and sales all lend themselves to serving COGNiTiON and its mission with enthusiasm, dedication and diligence. Her Master's Degree in Education Policy and Administration continues to inform all her professional endeavors. Helene's heart is in the Midwest having grown up in Madison WI, but now works as an enrollment administrator at a private school in the Rockville, MD area. She regularly brags to everyone about the amazing children's science museum in Beulah MI and is honored to serve on the COGNiTiON board.
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Michelle Bien
Board of Directors
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Oliver Roberts
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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Oliver is co-owner of Five Shores Brewing. He has been brewing beer for 17 years, spending the past 10 as Brewmaster for a startup brewery, which came to be known as Wolverine State Brewing Co., Michigan’s first all-lager craft brewery. Oliver designed and spearheaded the opening and operation of WSBC, Ann Arbor’s only production brewery, which, in 2017, was ranked the 27th largest brewery in Michigan by volume.
Oliver calls Northern Michigan home. He’s passionate about conserving the land and water and paying homage to this beautiful area — and its residents — in each and every Five Shores pint.