Saturday Science Academy

Before leaving NWIC, youth were divided into teams of 6 and 7 and given identifying bandanas of blue, green, yellow, or red.  These bandanas were a way to keep track of students as they walked across the large WWU campus as well as to help develop team comradery for games and discussions later in the day.  Each team came up with their own team name.  The green team called themselves the “Lime”borghini’s modeled after the famous Italian car maker, Lamborghini.  The blue team named themselves the Blue Dolphins (after great insistence from the females of the team). And finally, the red and yellow teams combined forces to call themselves the Oranges and Bananas.

"Lime"-Borghini's

The van ride to WWU was approximately 30 min long and youth were primarily engaged in their cell phones, ipod’s or sleeping.  Once at WWU, I and the team leads (TCUP-NES Mentors) led the youth on a 15 min trek to the Planetarium located at Haggard Hall. 

WWU Planetarium

Mr. Brad Snowder, astronomy instructor, planetarium curator and accomplished physicist met our youth at the Planetarium entrance and quickly seated the youth.  He proceeded to engage the youth in discussion of their own knowledge of constellations, Native American star lore, and many other topics.  Following these discussions the lights were turned off and Brad brilliantly and often comically narrated a presentation of the stars, galaxy, and planets. The youth traveled the Pacific Northwest night sky and followed changes in constellations from season to season.  The appearance of strange outlined figures (warriors, bears, lions, and others) appeared in the night, they were greeted expectantly by Oohs! and Ahs! from the rapt attention of the young audience. When the show ended, it was 12:10pm and the youth were eager for lunch.  Lunch was held down in the lower levels of the Viking Union in a private room for hosting guests and an amazing view of the Bellingham Bay.

After an hour lunch, all of the youth were gathered up and guided back across campus to the university’s Red Square and water fountain.  Teams were again separated to play a tournament of games before heading to the next half of the day’s adventure.  The tournament was a team effort Rock, Paper, Scissors competition where teams would decide on one of the three choices, face off with the opposing team, and act out their choice of Rock, Paper or Scissors.  The outcome was an uproar of laughter and wild commotion that caught even the attention of the many other visitors to the campus who were not part of our group.  In the end, the “Lime”borghini’s took highest honors as tournament champion followed closely by the Oranges and Bananas and Blue Dolphins. 

After quick group pictures by the fountain, the youth made their way once more across campus to the Communications Facility to meet up with two bright and intelligent Western students, Andrew  Zachary and Briana Ponzer.  Andrew is a Junior studying Physics and Astronomy and is a Teacher’s Assistant and Lab Instructor.  Briana is also a Junior and is studying to become a Physics and Astronomy Educator for high school youth who helps manage/oversee the use of the physics and astronomy labs. Our first steps with the tour guides, was a walk through some of the department’s cavernous labs to meet current students to talk about their research work (laser field generation, kinetic energy dynamics, etc).  The youth were also asked to identify and be familiarized with the many instruments used by physicists and astronomers in those labs.  Andrew then guided the youth through an entry level physics lab regarding friction and frictionless environments using cars on a track moving and stopping at varied speeds.  The tour ended with a quick visit to the “Astro Lounge” where the larger telescopes are stored and a brief encouragement to the youth to work hard in high school and to continue the pursuit of their dreams into college.

Physics Labs

At the end of the day, the youth loaded back into the vans and, unlike the morning ride, there developed a very inquisitive discussion regarding the day’s events and the many new subjects learned.  It was a joy to hear great questions raised and interests peaked by the teen’s curiosity to know more.  As usual, our day ended with all the youth gathered together for an achievement ceremony and reflection of the day’s events.  Despite the logistical rigors of trekking across long distances and keeping to a tight timetable, I could not have asked for a more enthusiastic group of students or a more wonderful day!

The next Saturday Science Aacdemy event for our high school teens will be April 2nd from 10am -3pm.  Students will arrive at the NWIC main campus for check-in and then we will load up and drive to Western Washington University.  We will be exploring the galaxies vast array of stars and engaging in new understanding of cultural starlore.  Starlore (or stories told by using star constellations) were used by all Native American peoples to narrate the creation of the earth, the sun, the moon and many other celestial objects we see today.

For more details check out the SSA flyer: Exlporing the Galaxy

Sign up soon!! We would love to have you there 🙂

The day began like all SSA events with students arriving, registering, and conversing with one another.  This was the first event where NWIC’s program TCUP-NES mentors were able to co-mingle and assist participants and instructors.  After initial registration, students were gathered in a tight circle, given instruction about the day’s events, and then prompted to join in a “get-to-know-you-game” called “Never Have I Ever.”  After games in the morning, the youth changed their shoes into boots, put on their jackets and were shuttled down Marine Dr. to Smuggler’s Slough. 

At Smuggler’s Slough, the youth were gathered under a tent erected by NSEA and greeted by NSEA’s Lindsay Taylor and Frank Bob of Lummi Natural Resources.  Frank engaged youth with conversation of the enormous task undertaken by the Lummi Tribe to restore the natural wetland forest that once thrived where students were going to be planting trees.  Frank described the intricate work involved in removing invasive shrubs that consumed the slough and the current work to prepare the ground for native vegetation as well as the importance of such native plants for the health of the streams.  He related the health of these streams then to the health of the salmon which the Lummi people have utilized as a food resource for many generations.  

Finally, Lindsay Taylor of NSEA provided a demonstration to students of proper tree planting technique and the location of where students would be planting.  The youth spent 1 hr planting trees along the wide, flat banks of the slough alongside 50 other members of the community who had come to join the work party that morning.  The weather was cool (40°F) and wet with constant light showers of rain.  While some students were cold and wet at times, everyone was able to stay warm with consistent movement, changes of pace, and hot beverages provided by NSEA.  The morning concluded with Monica Blanchard leading students by the slough streamside to take up water samples, test turbidity and temperature, and talk about the 4 C’s of healthy salmon stream water (Cool, Clean, Clear and Consistent).  

The students were shuttled back to the Log Building at NWIC where they cleaned their boots outside and changed back into their normal wear.  Participants enjoyed a nice lunch for the next hour, during which was read a short excerpt from Lummi Indians of Northwest Washington by Bernhard Stern about “Gathering Food in Season: The Importance of the Sockeye Salmon.”  After lunch, participants gathered their notebooks for the afternoon lesson and Monica Blanchard began teaching students on what characteristics are necessary for a healthy stream, the process of the salmon lifecycle, and restoration techniques used today.  Finally the students, paired up with partners to test their samples of stream water collected at the slough.  Monica instructed the youth on proper lab safety with goggles and gloves as well as proper handling over water testing chemicals.  The youth then tested their samples, with the aid of TCUP-NES mentors, for levels of dissolved oxygen and balance of pH.  The information gathered in their samples along with the streamside data taken down at the slough were used together to analyze the health of the stream as potential habitat for salmon.  It was determined that the stream was moderately healthy with cold, well balanced pH (near 7), and moderate levels of dissolved oxygen, while rain was attributed to the high turbidity found in the stream.

 Testing Dissolved Oxygen



The day finished with students taking time for a brief feedback survey of the day’s activities, followed quickly by a pop-quiz review of what was taught (youth receiving candy bars for correct answers) and an award ceremony congratulating participants as having achieved the status of “Youth Restoration Biologist.” 

As students left to go home, smiles, laughter and much conversation with parents and friends was a confirmation of another successful SSA event!

The NWIC’s own Space Center made it into Local (Bellingham Herald) and Regional News (Seattle Times) with their visit from NASA officials who are checking on the Space Center’s progress for an upcoming launch at the annual University Student Launch Initiative in Toney, Ala.  Check out the details below or on the web:

• http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/03/11/1909785/northwest-indian-college-students.html
• http://blogs.nwic.edu/usli