Program give Kansas students free admission to dozens of Kansas attractions
Kansas families with pre-K-12 students can get free admission to dozens of attractions throughout the state — including several in the Wichita area — with a free app and program being made available by the Kansas State Department of Education.
Called Sunflower Summer, the new KSDE program is being funded by federal COVID-19 funds to offer summer enrichment activities for Kansas students, according to a KSDE announcement. The department has set aside $1.2 million to cover the venue ticket fees, said Ann Bush, a communications specialist with the department. The program ends Aug. 15, with tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Up to two adults can also get free tickets when accompanying Kansas students to the participating attractions, Bush said. Each student gets one free admission, regardless of whether the attraction bills a student at the adult or child price, she said.
Participating Wichita attractions include the Sedgwick County Zoo, Exploration Place, Old Cowtown Museum, Mid-America All-Indian Museum and Kansas Aviation Museum.
Exploration Place has already had about 500 visitors use the Sunflower Summer program to get free admission, according to Laura Roddy, director of marketing and development. Roddy said her own family used the program to visit the Cosmosphere recently.
Besides the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, several popular attractions outside of Wichita are also on the list, including the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Fort Larned National Historic Site, the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, the Mid-America Air Museum in Liberal, and a number of state parks. The full list of attractions can be found in the app.
Here’s how the Sunflower Summer program works:
Download the Sunflower Summer app available from Apple’s App Store or Google Play. While the program was available only to iPhone users when the program was announced earlier this month, the app just became available for Android users after a Google review process delay.
When setting up the account, parents or legal guardians will need to register each eligible student, providing their county and school district information.
Choose an attraction you plan to visit and claim your ticket. You can search attractions by type or location.
When you get to the location, you activate the ticket and show it to the ticket person.
The app also has a passport feature to track which attractions you’ve visited and also includes some fun facts and trivia.
The KSDE has set up a dedicated website, sunflowersummer.org, with more information about the program.
Other agencies and organizations collaborating with the KSDE to present the program are the Kansas Department of Commerce, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund, KU Center for Public Partnerships and Research, and Greenbush Education Service Center. The program is being funded with a more than $553 million grant that the KSDE received as part of the federal 2021 American Rescue Plan Act.
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 4:23 AM.