“It’s just been such an exciting concept,” she said. “It’ll be amazing what it’s going to bring. I don’t think the vast majority of the citizens of Minot realize what a draw it’s going to be.”

She knows it will draw her seven grandchildren.

“When the interim museum started, then they just loved coming to Minot, and we’d always spent the day there. It would amaze me, because it was small, but they could spend three hours there and keep coming back,” Rasmusson said. “It was just amazing to me, watching them get concepts, watching them light up when they figured something out. Really, it’s play, but they’re learning through that play activity.”

Rasmusson’s involvement with the proposed discovery center to be built on Minot’s North Hill goes back to the dream that began even before the doors of a temporary museum first opened in 2014. Rasmusson was brainstorming with other members of the giving circle Give360, when the idea for a children’s museum arose.

Submitted Photo Karen Rasmusson holds a plaque received for Board Member of the Year from the Nonprofit Alliance in Minot.

“At that time, we had all these people that were moving into town from the South for the oil field, for all the things that were going on. They just didn’t know what to do here. They were used to having lots of activities for kids. So we started talking about a children’s museum and it just went off from there. It got us all excited,” Rasmusson recalled.

During the time the interim museum was operating, Rasmusson planned the exhibits and handled the special events. She saw the need to keep activities engaging for her grandchildren as they grew older, and it’s a priority of the entire board to serve a wide age range of children at the new museum to be built. Many children’s museums are designed for children up to age 8, but the Magic City Discovery Center is being designed to appeal to children up to age 14, Rasmusson said.

Mind Splash, the company hired to design the exhibits, has been on board with that priority in developing its proposals.

“These exhibits are so embedded with continued learning,” Rasmusson said. “When they rolled out what they’re going to be doing, there is something for those kids at every single level of this museum. My grandkids still are really going to have a chance to enjoy this!”

For someone whose previous board service had been limited to her professional organization, working with the discovery center has been a learning experience for Rasmusson. She estimated she’s visited 15 children’s museums around the nation. She has attended the Association of Children’s Museums conference, where she and other board members learned about starting a museum.

“We learned so much there. It was shocking because we were pretty positive that we could get this going and done in five years. We went to that first meeting and they said, ‘Nobody gets it done in less than seven,'” she said. As the Minot board proceeded to locate a site, design exhibits and fundraise, they came to understand why it takes that long.

“We really found out, through the process, what we wanted in our museum, because we wanted people that were coming to North Dakota to love North Dakota as much as we did,” Rasmusson said. “We wanted people to really appreciate what we could do here in North Dakota.”

Many of the exhibits have a North Dakota and Minot flair, whether it’s climbing appartus assembled with a mock oil derrick and military airplane or a play area reflecting North Dakota’s changing seasons. Creating exhibits with a broad range of learning experiences also opens up the possibilities for the museum, Rasmusson said.

“So I feel really good about where this is going,” she said.

Despite the project’s capital drive success, Rasmusson describes fundraising as the hardest part for her because soliciting donations is outside of her wheelhouse. Although the board has been working with a professional fundraiser, many of the boots on the ground are those of board members.

The capital campaign aims to reach $7 million to break ground, leaving the board with just under $2 million to raise this winter to start construction in 2020. Ultimately, the board would like to raise up to $10 million to finish the entire project, although the main museum will be able to open without full buildout of certain areas.

For her efforts on the board, Rasmusson received the Outstanding Board Member award at the first awards ceremony of the local Alliance of Nonprofits on Nov. 5. She considers her co-workers on the 13-member discovery center board to be outstanding as well.

“Everybody on that board works hard,” she said. “It’s not going to get done unless there’s a whole team of us.”

Currently, the board has no museum in operation but has hired an educator, Liz Weeks, to conduct events to bring learning opportunities and activities to children. Weeks and Wendy Keller, interim executive director, nominated Rasmusson for the nonprofit award.

“Karen has known this project since the beginning. There is no way she will let it fail. Her research, passion and enthusiasm to see this project through is like no other,” they wrote. “She is our best cheerleader and tells our story to everyone she knows and meets. She takes the role seriously and gets involved in decisions, events and projects and is a joy to work with.”

In addition to her communication skills, common sense and caring, Rasmusson is a great sounding board for new ideas, they said. They described her as a thinker and a voice of reason with her business knowledge and knowledge of human nature.

A Minot native, Rasmusson studied physical therapy at the University of North Dakota and holds a doctorate obtained there in 2004. She has spent her career as a physical therapist in Minot, with the exception of a few years in Michigan early on. She was a founding partner in 2001 in First Choice Physical Therapy, where she continues to practice.

Rasmusson plans to retire at the end of next April. Leaving a career that’s been a large part of her life for 43 years is made easier because she has the discovery center to devote her energy towards, she said.

“I miss doing that direct hands-on with the kids and teaching them. It’s really fun,” Rasmusson said of her time with the interim museum. Consequently, once the museum is built, expect to see Rasmusson there on a regular basis.

“Every children’s museum needs a good volunteer force that’s there helping and working with the kids,” she said. “We’ll have hired people, but you still need volunteers. That will be a great, fun thing to do.”