Instead of attending their usual science classes one day last month, Mill Creek Middle School eighth-graders got a first-hand look at the science and medical fields.
Scientists and doctors from the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington brought their labs to the Kent school on March 31 to show students their research.
Marit Murry, Mill Creek site coordinator for Communities In Schools of Kent, arranged the visit. Her father, Chuck Murry, is a professor of pathology at UW and serves as director of the Center for Cardiovascular Biology and interim director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine.
“I’ve grown up around this guy (her father),” Marit Murry said. “We went down to the autopsy suite when I was 4 years old and we looked at all these organs. I kind of forget that is not the average experience for most people…. I think giving them (the students) access to things they may have never seen before is a pretty cool opportunity.”
Last year, Mill Creek hosted a similar event on a smaller scale, but decided to expand it this year to all eighth-graders and a few seventh-graders who are interested in science or medicine.
Students were assigned one of four presentations to attend during their science class period based on their interest. The labs covered topics including, the heart, kidneys, muscles, stem cells and DNA isolation.
In one lab, students could view and touch a human heart and lungs, see how the heart and lungs work through a demonstration using pig organs and see an electrocardiogram at work. Another room featured an experiment where one student, while hooked up to electrodes, could feel his or her muscles move when a classmate, who was also hooked up to electrodes, moved his or her arm muscles.
Chuck Murry said outreach is essential to reach younger generations.
“The idea is to infect kids with a bit of the enthusiasm we all feel for what got us into science,” he said. “It is easy to remember back to being a fidgeting middle-schooler and sitting through so many boring lectures. So what we thought we would do is bring in a whole flight squadron of people down here and show them (the students) about some of the really fun and wild things you can do with science, and maybe inspire a few to think about science or medicine as career paths. … You’ve got the University of Washington in your backyard. What good is that if you never see anybody from the UW?”
Melak Alzubaude, an eighth-grader at Mill Creek, said the experience reaffirmed her interest in science.
“I wanted to be a doctor, and it encouraged me more,” she said.
Alzubaude said she was excited to talk to her friends and family about the highlight of the experience – seeing a human heart up close.
“I am going to tell them I touched a heart, and I saw it and it was amazing,” she said.
Earlier in March, Mill Creek hosted its second annual Brain Symposium, which gave student and community members to learn more about the brain during Brain Awareness Week. The event featured hands-on activities, including touching a human brain.
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