Preparing for Your Visit
While at the Wiregrass Innovation Center, please actively monitor your students and help them have the best experience possible. Supportive chaperones who can quickly and quietly handle any minor disruptions will ensure that HudsonAlpha educators can focus completely on making your experience exceptional for your entire group. Chaperones are encouraged to ask questions and model appropriate behaviors for the students.
A bus driver who would like to take advantage of grant funding for a paid lunch must be present in the Teaching Lab and actively engage as a chaperone throughout the experience.
All students are provided with a lab coat, goggles, and gloves to use when necessary. The Teaching Lab is equipped with safety equipment found in all HudsonAlpha laboratory spaces, and employees are trained for emergencies.
For your protection, visitors to our lab space are asked to wear closed-toe shoes. Those with long hair should have a way to secure it. Food and drinks are not allowed in the lab space, but can be left in a designated area outside of the lab.
Notify a HudsonAlpha employee immediately in the event of injuries, spills, damaged equipment, or other accidents.
Please let us know if any student and/or chaperone has any allergies or needs accommodations.
It is important to remind students that the Wiregrass Innovation Center is a place of business. Visitors and guests of the Innovation Center are expected to respect the space, employees, and other guests at all times. Please remind your students that they must move through the public areas of the Center quietly and without running.
Inside the Teaching Lab, students are encouraged to ask questions, make connections, and actively participate in discussions. In order to make the experience enjoyable for every student, cell phone usage during the experience is not allowed – however, we do provide the opportunity for photos to be taken, time permitting.
In the event that students become overly disruptive or refuse to follow instructions from HudsonAlpha employees, groups may be asked to leave the premises.
In the event of inclement weather, HudsonAlpha staff will follow the decisions of Dothan City Schools (DCS). When DCS announces school closures or early dismissals due to inclement weather, HudsonAlpha will also cancel educational programming. In the event that DCS is not in session, HudsonAlpha personnel will review available information to determine if programs should be canceled due to weather.
Field trips will be held in the HudsonAlpha Teaching Lab in the Wiregrass Innovation Center, located in downtown Dothan. We will send your group detailed parking instructions and a map prior to arrival. The address is 122 Museum Ave Dothan, Alabama 36303.
When you arrive at the Wiregrass Innovation Center, the student drop-off and pick-up location is the crosswalk between the Wiregrass Innovation Center and the Wiregrass Museum of Art. After dropping off students, buses will proceed to the parking lot between N. Cherry Street and Monument Street. Please do not park in the Innovation Center parking lot.
When you arrive, a HudsonAlpha educator will meet you outside and direct you into the building. Groups are not permitted to enter the Wiregrass Innovation Center more than 15 minutes prior to your experience. If your group arrives more than 15 minutes early, please remain in your vehicle(s). Due to security procedures, a HudsonAlpha employee must escort guests at all times.
The Wiregrass Innovation Center and HudsonAlpha Wiregrass are tobacco-free environments. Please refrain from any consumption of tobacco during your visit.