By: Jaley Adkins
Denise Owens’ general studies class is focused on discussing societal and political
issues, so scholars were apprehensive when told they would be conducting a lab experiment at Falls of the Ohio State Park in Indiana as part of the National Youth Science Summit.
After arriving at the park, scholars hiked across rocks and sand to get to the beach area.
From the beach, scholars were impressed and awed by the beauty of the rapids, but were
distraught to see the amount of litter on the shores. Groups of scholars led by Marissa Morvai
made an effort to contribute to the clean up of the shores before conducting the lab.
With buckets of supplies in hand, groups began their lab to research micro-plastics found
on the shores of the Falls of the Ohio. Students dug one inch deep 10cm x 10cm squares,
filtered the sand out, and put the remains in a clear container. They repeated this twenty-five
times, traveling in a parallel line across the shore.
After completing their lab experiment, scholars headed to the University of Louisville Conn Center for Renewable Energy and the Speed School of Engineering for a tour.
“The tour at U of L opened my eyes to the diverse field of chemical engineering. There are tons of job options available in that field that I wouldn’t have even known existed if we hadn’t went on this tour,”
scholar Logan Turner said.
Following the tour, scholars went to a classroom in the Speed School of Engineering to
analyze their micro-plastics data before shipping off their results to the United Kingdom.
The busy day continued from there as the scholars went to Genscape for a speed dating
mentor session with STEM professionals.
“The speed mentoring session definitely provided me with helpful information that I will be using as I apply to colleges and think about my major and future career,”
scholar Shria Holla said.
The scholars benefited greatly from participating in the National Youth Science Summit. Most left with useful information, new knowledge about different career options, and a desire too help clean up rivers and oceans. This field trip accomplished one of the Governor’s Scholars Program’s main goals, giving scholars opportunities to explore different fields to help guide them into a trajectory of success in life.
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