As a boy, it was always the Egyptian collections that drew Jack Lohman’s attention.

“Obviously, it was the mummies,” said the Royal B.C. Museum’s chief executive officer on Wednesday. “Like all children, I was fascinated.”

Lohman hopes a $120,000 gift from the HSBC Bank Canada will help instil that same fascination in other children.

The money will help fund school trips to the Royal B.C. Museum, reducing the cost of a class visit to $10 from $60. The program will be called the HSBC School Visits Program.

Lohman said he believes museums, with their collections of original, historical artifacts and other objects from the studies of geography and natural history, can be transformative.

He has seen it happen with children, who develop a real intuitive sense and love of history, geography and science.

Darren Coiner, Grade 4 teacher with the James Bay Community School, said the museum and its collections allow students to put their studies in a special context.

“They can see these objects, visualize them, and then use their imaginations to put all the pieces together,” Coiner said.

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