AURORA – The Aurora Fossil Museum received a $7,695 grant from the Duke Energy Foundation Friday morning to assist in upgrading the technology, which will allow it to become more interactive.

The grant will help purchase programs for educational kiosks in the Earth History Gallery and Shark Room, which according to the museum will educate the youth of North Carolina in a more enjoyable manner.

“This is one of the bucket list items before I retire in June,” Museum Director Andrea Stilley said. “I have wanted to grow the museum and to bring more fossils and I also wanted something interactive for children.”

Twenty-first century learning is the goal for the museum, with Duke Energy’s grant providing the assistance to move there.

Millie Clark, Duke Energy’s District Manager for Government and Community Relations said, “Duke Energy is a proud partner of the community and supporting non-profits. The Aurora Fossil Museum showcases what our world was like, and that is one of the reasons Duke Energy supports the museum.”

One of the new pieces in the museum that will be in place is a life-size diorama, which will have working parts in the mine room.

“The kiosk will have a program that will allow a visitor to touch the shark that provides all the information about it,” Stilley said. “The information will be about when the shark existed and why we think a shark went extinct.”

Since becoming a non-profit in 1999, the Aurora Fossil Museum has grown to three buildings, which include fossils and minerals from around North Carolina and the world.

“The Duke Energy Foundation supports communities all across the state,” Clark said. “Our focus is education, in particular stem education, which the fossil museum is a great example of.”

The museum also hopes to receive a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to help bring more kiosks.