University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 22, March 6

                             Campus visit
             Center shows students scientific opportunities
     
     Today, we went on a field trip to the secondary science
center at the University of Delaware. It was a very
informational trip. One thing we learned was in the future,
if you want to do something about chemistry for example you
don't have to be a chemist or a scientist. You could be an
author and write about  chemistry or chemistry materials, or
a seller to tell people about which brand would work for
which test,      and many more occupations.
                             -Mimi Yi, Redding Middle School
     
     
     That's exactly the lesson Laura Troxell, a life science
teacher at Redding Middle School and coordinator of gender
equity programs for the Appoquinimink School District, and
Kate Scantlebury, UD assistant professor of chemistry and
biochemistry, wanted Mimi and 49 other seventh- and eighth-
grade girls from Redding to learn.
     The girls recently visited the Secondary Science
Education Center in Brown Laboratory to gain experience in
math, science and technology and to learn more about
possible careers in those fields. In the center's state-of-
the-art high school science laboratory and resource room,
the visitors took part in educational games and science
lessons on cell structure and water pollution presented by
UD undergrads.
     "The girls selected for the trip have high aptitudes in
math and science and come from diverse economic, ethnic and
academic standings," Troxell said.
     The girls toured DuPont, Brown and Drake laboratories
and ate lunch at the Trabant University Center. In the
afternoon, they listened to speakers on careers in medical
technology, before leaving with information packets.
     "The day gave the girls a great deal of insight as far
as possible careers for themselves," Troxell said. "It was
the first time many of them had seen a university setting.
They come from a school district that has an interesting mix
of people-a large group of professionals and their families
and then some very rural students who may not always
recognize all of the opportunities that are available to
them. It was good for them to see women professors."
     "It's a little trying when you're 12 years old to think
about some day having a doctorate," Scantlebury said. "Most
of us look really old to them, but many of them established
a great rapport with our undergraduates. I heard them asking
non-scientific questions like, 'What's the food like?' and
'What's it like to live in the dorms?' "
     Those impressions may be summed up in a letter by
visiting student Alana Godaletra, who wrote, "I had a lot of
fun going to the University of Delaware. I learned some
interesting facts about cells and compared a red cell to a
white cell....When I get older, I am hoping to go to the
University of Delaware, but the one thing that is bad is
that I think it is too big and I would worry that I would
get lost all the time."
     Undergraduate students who participated in day include
Monisha Lloyd, medical technology; Jennifer Eye, Jennifer
Kern, Suzanne Bauman, Zsofi Zep, Lora Barnhart, Laura Jane
Swanson and Katie Corrigan, all from chemistry and
biochemistry; Jessica Kim, earth science education, and
Carissa Powell, biology education.
     Chemistry faculty who opened their laboratoriess for
tours included Eugene Mueller and Hal White, biochemistry,
and Burnaby Munson, chemistry. Speaking from the Medical
Technology pProgram were Mary Beth Miele and Anna Ciulla.
                                                -Beth Thomas