Senator Patrick Burns High School Visit

Science is fun.  That is our message to the high school students we visit.  Indeed, our goal is to share our passion for and knowledge about parasites and their roles in human health and disease through fun, interactive presentations and hands on science activities.  One of our recent visits occurred with the grade 8 class at Senator Patrick Burns (all 5 of the grade 8 classes!).

Our HPI team created a presentation focusing on various human parasites and their impact on humans, specifically the organs and tissues they infect and the consequences of this infection.  This topic was chosen to coincide with their recently finished topic on human anatomy and cellular systems.  We first introduced basic concepts such as definitions, anatomy, classification, and life cycles to the students to provide them with a solid foundation of parasites.  Then we focused on Schistosoma japonicum which affects the liver, Giardia duodenalis which affects the small intestine, and Leishmania which has a spectrum of presentations that affects the skin, mucous membranes, and visceral organs. 

We also had the last portion of our presentation dedicated to showing the young students what kinds of careers they can have in science and in parasitology.  Each volunteer created a presentation slide showing their own career paths and future aspirations.  We showed these students that our program has a very diverse group of students from all kinds of backgrounds, interests, and future aspirations.  Through their own experiences, our volunteers were able to connect with the students and hopefully inspire them towards future careers in science.

The day was long as we visited all 5 grade 8 classes.  We worked in teams of volunteers, each coming from various labs.  The morning session was led Tim Jayme, from Dr. Derek McKay’s lab, Camilla from Dr. Gedamu’s lab, and Juliette from Dr. Susan Kutz’s lab.  The mid-afternoon session was led by Nic Graves from Dr. Derek McKay’s lab and Anupuma from Dr. Constance Finney’s lab.  Finally, the late-afternoon session was led by Christina Amata from Dr. Andre Buret’s lab and Leah Hohman from Dr. Nathan Peters lab.  The HPI team had an amazing time presenting to the class and were very impressed with how engaged the students were. The students were asking great questions and were really interested about parasites.  This was entirely rewarding and refreshing for the team to see such bright and promising science students.  The feedback from the educator we partnered with was great stating “The presenters were wonderful! They catered the program to our specific needs/interests and were very engaging.  The students asked a lot of questions and the hosts answered with ease”. 

This was a great opportunity for our volunteers to also practice their presentation skills but more importantly, how to translate our knowledge to an audience that is transparent and understandable.  Furthermore, this was the first time for some of our volunteers to give a high school classroom presentation, and although some were nervous at first, by the end of the day, they were already excited and looking forward to our next classroom visit.

This was a great day full of fun for everyone involved.  The high school students saw how interesting studying parasites can be and we gained valuable classroom management and presentation skills.