This year’s Science Day was on April 15 and 10 area schools attended. Science Day introduces high school students to Blackburn faculty and students in hopes that they will be encouraged to consider Blackburn as their future college. This year it was estimated that 240 students attended. Students take tests in biology, physics and chemistry so they can see how they are doing academically and compare themselves to other students. They are also treated to lunch and various demonstrations from the faculty.
Faculty and their teaching assistants put on demonstrations for the students. Most of the demonstrations were the same as previous years with the addition of a dog training demonstration by biology professor Dr. Jonathan Micancin and his dog Black. Chemistry teaching assistants did demonstrations with liquid nitrogen and physics and chemistry professor Dr. Karl Luth lay on a bed of nails. Biology professor Dr. David Reid showed students how to stain a slide and see the bacteria in their mouths. A potato gun was used to shoot a variety of fruits and vegetables by biology professor Dr. James Bray.
In the past, former biology professor Richard Crowell helped make Science Day all that it is, but this year a student coordinated the event. Senior biology major Kayla Liebman took charge and spent the entire semester planning out the day in great detail. She said, “There is a specific process that you have to follow.” Liebman had notes from the previous years and used those to help get everything organized. Science faculty and students assisted her throughout the process and the last few days were a group effort.
Chemistry professor Dr. Mark Armstrong said of the event, “[Science Day] is a classic wonderful example of how Blackburn works; the students do everything basically. There is very little faculty input… It’s just amazing. It makes me really proud of Blackburn [students] and how you just take it and run with it and make it a success every year.” Armstrong has participated in Science Day for as long as it has been around, more than 25 years he estimated.