The newly graduated public history major enhances the interactive learning potential of museums.
A new exhibit at the Greensboro Science Center is grabbing the attention of visitors of all ages. They can learn how to get ready for a mission to Mars. They can ride a space elevator or spread their arms and fly with migrating geese. They can design a drone or supersonic fighter jet. They can look at artifacts on loan from NASA, Boeing, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, and laboratories that are busy advancing our capacity for flight and space technology.
All are part of Above and Beyond at the Science Center this summer and fall.
On their way inside, guests will get to see the hard work of a new UNC Greensboro alumna. Alexcina Wartski ’25 MA will see months of research manifest in the corridor leading to the Science Center’s new exhibit. It’s a fitting finish to work that will lead families into an exhilarating summer museum experience.
It’s also a thrilling coda to the capstone project for her master of arts in history with a concentration in museum studies. “I got to focus on the past, present and future of flight and space,” says Wartski, who turned her tassel at UNCG’s 2025 Spring Commencement.
Launching in Greensboro
The traveling display, which opened in May, fills about 6,000 square feet of the museum. It chronicles the history of aerospace travel and atmospheric discoveries. Interactive displays let visitors look back on historical flights or peek at how aerospace travel might look in the future.
Interaction is key, given the Science Center’s history centered on families and children. “We know we can get them excited about science before they become too old to feel bored by science,” says Jessica Gouge ’21 MA, the education, events, and collections manager. “Guests can manipulate screens to learn what it takes to fly through the air or in space. They can build their own jet and fly it in a flight simulator.”
Gouge asked Wartski to lead the creation of a supplementary exhibit. It added an additional tie to its temporary home in Greensboro. “I incorporated people from Guilford County,” says Wartski. “Some of them are Virginia Tucker, one of the human computers for NASA; and Dr. Lynnae Quick, who is working on the exploration of Jupiter’s moon Europa and the Dragonfly missions.”
Her work adorns the windows of the hallway to the main exhibit. She worked with the Science Center’s exhibits team on the design and with the Greensboro History Museum to borrow items from their collection related to space exploration.
Wartski says, “I really hope that putting Guilford County members into that exhibit will help younger kids realize there’s a lot of different things in flight and space, more than being an astronaut or pilot.”
Broaden the Horizons
While this project is set in one place, Wartski is hardly a wallflower. Marketing manager Bekah Robinson ’21, a sociology alumna from UNCG, also praised Wartski’s involvement in the Science Center’s education department. “She interacts really well with our guests at our Science on the Spot talks, the Penguin Talks, Shark Talks, really trying to educate them.”
After double majoring in communications and history at Salem College, Wartski got a full scholarship for graduate school at UNCG. Museum studies was a logical next step. She says, “It is a really applicable way to get history out into the community. It’s also really fun.”
She worked in other area museums and heritage centers, including the Kaleideum in Winston-Salem. But something about the Science Center felt right to her when she visited for a class trip, she says. “I cornered Jessica and asked if I could do my capstone here.”
“We have a longstanding relationship with UNCG’s media studies,” says Gouge, who got the same degree as Wartski from UNCG. “I like to make sure that students have, in the back of their mind, the idea that museums can be a lot of things: history museums, science museums, art museums, living history museums. There are a lot of potential avenues if you want to get into the profession.”
Grad Takes Flight
Thanks to working with Gouge and the rest of the Science Center staff, Wartski learned how much she loved the creativity of building exhibits. “One of the first things you learn is to not have a finished idea in your head. It never turns out how it’s ‘supposed to be.’ It’s okay to adapt,” she says.
Wartski will continue in that field with her new job as a curator at the Har-Ber Village Museum in Oklahoma. But her mark on local history will stick around. She also received an America 250 grant to help create a traveling exhibit for North Carolina’s celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary.
And her work for Above and Beyond will remain on display at the Greensboro Science Center through September 28.
Story by Janet Imrick, University Communications
Photography courtesy of the Greensboro Science Center and Above and Beyond
