PORTAGE (WKZO) -- The New Director of the Kalamazoo Air-Zoo was welcomed to town at a private reception Wednesday evening in the Main Display Hall of the aviation museum.

Troy Thrash got a chance to lay out his vision for the job. He says he wants to turn the cutting edge museum into more of a learning tool for local science and math teachers and use it to get kids excited about those subjects and about technical careers. He says those are the jobs of the future.

He wants the Air-zoo to be more than just a place to go on a rainy Saturday. He replaces Bob Ellis who just recently retired.