COSAM News Articles 2023 May Images COSAM OIED and GWIS Host COSAM Day of Service: Spring into Science

COSAM OIED and GWIS Host COSAM Day of Service: Spring into Science

Published: 05/16/2023

On April 12, about 40 volunteers from across COSAM participated in the COSAM Day of Service. This event, Spring into Science, was hosted at the Auburn and Opelika Boys and Girls Clubhouses, and approximately 80 K-12 students attended the STEM-focused event which brought interactive science demonstrations to the community. Spanning multiple STEM disciplines, the demonstrations that COSAM graduate students and faculty facilitated included extracting DNA from a strawberry, handling bees without stingers, learning to corral a (robotic) armadillo into a cage for research, and interacting with a synthetic cadaver.

Presented by the COSAM Office of Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity (OIED) and the Graduate Women in STEM (GWIS; pronounced jee-whiz), Spring into Science was designed to reach a large audience of K-12 students, involve a large number of COSAM volunteers, and create a meaningful connection with the local Auburn/Opelika community. Iterating on previous Spring into Science events put on by GWIS, this event was meant to be like a science fair, with the K-12 students rotating through the interactive STEM demonstrations.

Considering the previous events held in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club, Dr. Ashley Williams of COSAM OIED said, “they had small projects which were ongoing, but nothing where we could have, like, 25 volunteers assisting with.” Williams, in collaboration with COSAM OIED program coordinator Edward Wiggins and Assistant Dean of Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Kimberly X. Mulligan-Guy, initially designed this event to fill that gap.

There were five demonstrations at each location, and Williams stated, “it was important that we had demonstrations at both locations to keep everything equitable.” Providing equitable treatment and learning opportunities to students regardless of their location was a priority for Spring into Science. “Our contact at the Opelika site made it very clear she was excited to have a STEM event,” said Edward Wiggins, “and also that whatever we did, we would do it at Auburn and Opelika,” which was one of the ways Spring into Science ensured equitable learning opportunities between the Auburn and Opelika locations.

Based on the success of this year’s Spring into Science, COSAM OIED and GWIS hope to continue Spring into Science and deepen the relationship between the Auburn/Opelika community and COSAM.