Saturday, Feb 18, 2017 12:00 PMUpdated Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017 5:41 AM
Events encourages students to have fun, think about the future
Students explore a soap film display Friday at the Colorado Discovery Festival at the Fort Lewis College Student Life Center. From left are Park Elementary School third-graders Hannah Johnston, Kyanya Lopez-Arizmendi, Cloe Aitken and Marlene Martinez.
Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald
Lexi Stetson-Lee, administrator of the Powerhouse Science Center, teaches Park Elementary School students about DNA. Sponsored by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado and the Powerhouse, the Discovery Festival drew about 450 students.
Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald
Officer Preston Rea of the Durango Police Department explains the scientific techniques police use during investigations. Students could learn about how science is used in careers at 20 booths.
Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald
Numerous hands-on experiences at the Colorado Discovery Festival introduced students to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. From left, Kate Petty and Nate Foster, interns at the Powerhouse Science Center, assist students from Park Elementary School in a lesson about DNA with the help of Lexi Stetson-Lee, administrator at the Powerhouse.
Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald
Students wrote down lessons learned at the event.
Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald
With pipettes, students carefully added rubbing alcohol to plastic tubes to help DNA from wheat unwind.
Shaking their tubes as instructed, they saw hundreds of thousands of white strands. These are the building blocks of life, explained Kate Petty, a senior at Durango High School.
“All that goop is instruction,” she said.
About 450 students representing the Durango, Cortez and Mancos school districts gathered Friday at the Fort Lewis College Student Life Center to learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado and the Powerhouse Science Center hosted the Colorado Discovery Festival to encourage students, especially girls, to think about careers in these fields.
The Durango Police Department, La Plata County, The Garden Project of Southwest Colorado and other employers were among the 20 booths.
“It really gives them an opportunity to showcase their business, to really engage with kids on a level they haven’t done before,” said Anita Carpenter, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters.
The festival is free and open to children and their families from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at the Fort Lewis College Student Life Center.
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