Minerals with a mission
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BEYOND THE LAB
Minerals with a mission Carol Jantzen establishes Fredericks Mineral Gallery for STEM education rpsec.usca.edu/FredericksMineralGallery By Gail A. Oare
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250-pound single crystal of feldspar that is at least 350 million years old ... Crab, bird track and crinoid fossils, fulgurites, tomahawk heads and arrowheads made of obsidian ... A 95-million-year-old raptor egg found in Mongolia—one of only six in the United States. These are just a few of the extraordinary pieces from the more than 1000 rocks and minerals that Carol Jantzen is donating to establish the Fredericks Mineral Gallery. It is located at the Ruth Patrick Science Education Center (RPSEC) in Aiken, S.C. The gallery is named in honor of Jantzen’s parents, the late Theodore (Ted) and Clara Fredericks, and consists of the massive collection acquired over decades by Jantzen and her father.
It is clear to see how Jantzen followed a path from geologist and materials scientist to philanthropist. Ted Fredericks, a lover of geology and an avid rock collector, first placed a pick ax in his daughter’s hand at the age of two while on one of the family’s many mineral hunts. When he turned his passion for rock collecting into a business assembling educational rock kits for museums and schools, young Carol earned pennies and crystals by helping to gather the samples in the field and labeling the specimens in preparation for distribution. And into her adult life, Christmas presents from her father were, predictably, mineral or fossil specimens. “To say that I was predestined to be a scientist would be an understatement,” says Jantzen, recently retired as consulting scientist with Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), also located in Aiken. “I have a lot of museumquality pieces in my collection, and I wanted to make sure that it went somewhere where it could be kept intact, have longevity, and be enjoyed by the community,” Jantzen says about her decision to place the gallery at RPSEC. “I also felt that a local facility with a planetarium would be the best place for a mineral gallery.” RPSEC is home to the DuPont Planetarium and already offers a dozen or more programs on rocks and minerals. Fredericks Mineral Gallery is a perfect fit. My father’s collection is Carol Jantzen in the Fredericks Mineral Gallery holding a piece a combination of specimens of banded sandstone from Colorado with micro-fault offsets in the layers. he found over the years or
selectively purchased,” she says. “Many of them were obtained from quarries that are now closed or built over and are quite rare.”
The minerals in the collection are also notable for their size and the beauty of their crystal structures. Just the type of pieces that can excite young minds. Jantzen has a passion for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, especially for inspiring girls to pursue careers in science. She sees the potential for the gallery to play an important role in advancing this mission. Gary Senn, director of RPSEC, is also delighted with the educational prospec
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