- June 9, 2026
The Volusia County School Board honored the Lohmans for their contributions in helping cultivate a love of science in every fifth and eighth grade student in the district.
Since its launch in 2021, over 40,000 Volusia County Schools students have participated in the Lohman's Museum of Arts and Sciences Field Study program. The Lohmans — Nancy and her late husband Lowell, of Ormond Beach — established the program by way of a $340,000 donation to the FUTURES Foundation after a conversation between VCS K-12 Science Coordinator Jen Taylor, former School Board member Carl Persis and Superintendent Carmen Balgobin six years ago.
"The vision was to really take a love for learning in the field of science and bring experiences to life for our students," Balgobin said. "I still remember the meeting as if it was yesterday. There was so much passion in that room."
The program has been running for five years now, and grants an opportunity for every fifth and eighth grade VCS student to attend a free field trip to MOAS as part of their class curriculum. Since the museum is undergoing a rebranding as The Brown, the program will be named "The Lohmans' Day at the Brown."
Lowell Lohman, who died last October, believed that every child deserved to be a part of the program, regardless of financial circumstance, Taylor said. She shared that every year, at their budget meeting, he'd turn to her and ask which students would be selected for the field study.
"'I'd look at him and it was like a trick question every year, and he'd get this little grin on his face, and I'd say, 'Well, you've already pay for all the kids to go,'" Taylor recalled. "And he's like, 'Well, that's what I wanted to hear, and so he just continued on. It made him so happy."
Taylor said students' science testing scores have grown all five years of the field study program.
The Lohmans have continued to fund the program year after year, and Nancy Lohman will carry on that legacy.
"I can't imagine, truthfully never, never supporting the initiative, but I have made it a very firm commitment for at least the next six years," Nancy Lohman said. "But honestly, that's just what's in writing. I can't really imagine saying no."
As MOAS continues its transition into The Brown, the planetarium will continue to carry the Lohman name.
"Lowell is smiling from ear to ear down on all of us to know that we get to continue to be a part of that," Nancy Lohman said.
Lowell's presence is memorialized in the planetarium's lobby, with one of his quotes, "Adventure in life begins with learning." It's the last thing visitors see before they leave, said Seth Mayo, curator of science at the museum.
"So even though Lowell is not here with us today, those words still echo in our hallways and in our planetarium," Mayo said.
