Summertime Fun! UBC Let's Talk Science Partnership Program E-Newsletter August 2005 volume 8, issue 9 ______________________________________________________ In this issue: - Volunteers of the Summer - Summer Events Summary - Training for 2005-2006 year - Science Joke of the Month ______________________________________________________ Volunteers of the Summer We had tons of outstanding volunteers this summer, it was very hard to narrow it down to just 2 people! Congratulations to Nadia Pietravalle and Alfredo Franco-Cea!!! Nadia participated in 3 different events this summer: the CEDAR Camp, Killarney Day Camp and the Monck Provincial Park Day Camp. Nadia did an outstanding job planning fun, interactive activities to teach a group of Aboriginal kids about plants for the CEDAR camp. She was also kind enough to respond to our pleas of help for the Killarney and Monck camps. She jumped in with both feet, with little-to-no planning time, and did an extraordinary job. Great work Nadia! Alfredo also participated in 3 different summer events: the Musquem Invitational Soccer Tournament, UBC Bookstore Harry Potter Event and the GSS Saturday Science Event. Alfredo wowed huge crowds of people with exploding chemistry at the soccer tournament and was a solid helper for the Harry Potter event. He also enthusiastically helped plan and run the CSI-style "who stole the chocolate bars" GSS Saturday Science Event. Great job Alfredo! As always, our volunteers of the summer will receive a $20 gift card to the UBC Bookstore. ______________________________________________________ Summer Events Summary 1. Musquem Invitational Soccer Tournament In July, Alfredo Franco-Cea and David Kent did a chemistry magic show for ~150 aboriginal students and their parents. The event was part of the Musqueam Invitational Soccer Tournament and had attendees from across the province. Alfredo (being the chemist) was the leader by a long shot and did an awesome job of making things explode while still delivering some clear educational content! 2. UBC Bookstore Harry Potter Event Witches, wizards and Muggles alike had a fantastic time at the Harry Potter book release party at the UBC Bookstore on July 16th. Mike Gretes, Shannon Kolind and Beth Simpson put on a magic show, using chemistry to turn water into wine into milk into beer and electromagnetism to levitate a globe. All the kids had a chance to try their hand at writing with invisible ink, with assistance from Aviva Srubiski, Alfredo Franco-Cea, Arefeh Rouhi, Melinda Diver, Paul Lusina, Sara Harbord and Tamara Kunz. 3. CEDAR camp We had nine different volunteers (Nadia Pietravalle, Sonya Powell, Lisa McDonnell, Sam Yeaman, Jon Davies, Grace Lam, Dave Kent, Beth Simpson, and Erika Eliason) provide workshops to a group of Aboriginal students from around the Lower Mainland over two weeks in August. The activities varied from ecological web games and sea urchin workshops to planting seeds and doing a DNA/genetics workshop. The camp was unbelievably successful and has set a solid precedent that we hope to match and exceed next summer! 4. Killarney Day Camp A group of eleven volunteers (Erika Eliason, Sara Harbord, Linda Hanson, Paul Lusina, Seth Gilchrist, Nadia Pietravalle, Jennifer Lee, Luana Avila, Jeff Fletcher, Pam Arstikaitis and Derrick Randall) headed over to the Killarney Community Centre in August to help out with a Wilderness Adventures Day Camp. There were over 60 kids in attendance and they rotated through different stations (fossil making, water cycle and tree identification) before being let loose in a wild game of the Food Web...tag style. 5. Monck Provincial Park Day Camp UBC's first Rural outreach visit took place this August. Derrick Randall, Rebecca Goulding, Theresa Liao, Nadia Pietravalle and Heather Coleman took a road trip to Monck Provincial Park near Merrit to help out with a day camp. They had tons of fun making fossils, looking at tree rings and identifying trees and doing water cycle/purification activities. This marked the first time that the UBC LTS-PP has left the lower mainland and Derrick will be heading the Access Initiative this year so keep your eyes peeled for exciting trips during the school year! 6. GSS Saturday Science Who dunnit? Theresa Liao, Linda Hanson, Alfredo Franco-Cea, Tristan Walker, and Seth Gilchrist took kids through a series of CSI-style techniques at the last GSS Saturday Science Event to figure out who stole the missing chocolate bars. A big thanks to all those people who came out during the summer to participate in the various activities. This was the first time that the UBC Let's Talk Science Partnership Program ran summer events and it proved to be a huge success! Great job everyone!! ______________________________________________________ 2005-2006 Training It's almost time to start gearing up for the 2005-2006 year! We haven't officially started advertising to new grad students to sign up for our program, but we thought we'd give you all a head start. New Volunteer Application Forms are now posted on our website (www.gss.ubc.ca/LTS/). If you would like to volunteer with us for the upcoming year, please fill one in either online (http://www.gss.ubc.ca/LTS/va.html) or email it (http://www.gss.ubc.ca/LTS/docs/volapp.doc) to us at lts@gss.ubc.ca. Please help us spread the word! If there are any new grad students in your lab, encourage them to check out our website or email us for more information. Our 2005-2006 Training Sessions will be occurring October 3rd (on campus) and October 4th (off campus at the BC Cancer Research Centre, near Vancouver General Hospital) from 6-8 pm (exact locations TBA). We are looking for past volunteers to come and share their experiences with new volunteers. If you are interested, please email us at lts@gss.ubc.ca to let us know! ______________________________________________________ Joke of the Month Q: What did the male stamen say to the female pistil? A: I like your "style".