The 8th grade SEAL students (STEM Excellence and Leadership) attended the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Iowa City on March 4 & 5, put on by the Belin Blank Center of the University of Iowa. The symposium promotes and publicly recognizes students for outstanding achievement in original research and experimentation in science and humanities at the high school level. The 8th graders listened to research topics ranging from “Farming on Mars: Potential strategies for sustainable agriculture in Martian conditions” to “What is Honey? A comparison of honey from Iowa beekeepers versus national store brand honey using pH, pollen, and chemical composition analysis”.
The students were also taken on tours at the University of Iowa that varied from the College of Nursing, National Driving Simulator, Additive Manufacturing-Integrated Product Realization Lab, and the Pharmacy Lab. They were introduced to the advancement of 3-D printing and additive manufacturing technologies, how to construct a family health history and what clinicians do with that information, driving safety research, combining compounds to create their own lip balm, and much more. The STEM Excellence students worked with undergraduate students and staff in a career development workshop and also participated in a trivia contest.
8th grade SEAL students of 2018-19: Kelsey Dalen, Rebecca Yanacheak, Ella Fuller, Ella Grossman, Lucas Neppl, Dylan Hunt, Rylan Campbell, Thomas Nugent, Kyler Hegarty