September Updates

CONCORDIA SCIENCE ACADEMY – September 2021 newsletter

So September has rolled around and we are slowly getting some science academy things done as the school year kicks into full gear. It was a fairly quiet summer with a few events working with Fargo Parks at Midwest Kidsfest and the Boys and Girls Club of Fargo for Night to Unite which served well in getting us used to being back out there and being able to do science safely in the shadow of COVID-19.

And then after a year off, Concordia Science Academy made it’s return to the opening day STEM day events at the Minnesota State Fair where we had a booth to run a science activity (Dr. Graeme’ s current favorite – paper chromatography) and were scheduled to do two performances of our ‘Chemistry and beyond..’ stage show. Dr. Berquo from Concordia’s physics department and Hannah, a sophomore chemistry major accompanied Dr. Graeme on the trip down and while the fair was not as busy as usual, we still had a great many budding young scientists stop by and experience chromatography.

And for our first stage show, we also saw the welcome return of Bailey, a past science academy student president and biology graduate who has gone on to do some awesome science and who is always welcome at our events. Sadly, as we finished our stage show and stepped down, the rain started and essentially shut down things for the rest of the afternoon so we huddled in the tent for a while till the rain stopped. In spite of that, it was awesome to get back out there again, see other science outreach professionals and work with SCiMathMN at the state fair.

Some more pictures from the event including our soggy end to the day can be found here.

So back to Moorhead and as we settle into the school year, we took part in the Student organization Expo this past Sunday getting incoming Concordia Students exceited about going out and doing science and our hope is to get more people involved now we are back and able to do events safely. Of course, the student members this past year or two have done a great job in keeping things going and Dr. Graeme is always grateful to the students that make it possible to get out there and do science in the community and without them, we would not be where we are today.

We’re hoping to make a few appearances here and there so if you are interested in working with us, feel free to reach out to Dr. Graeme at wyllie@cord.edu

Thursday September 9th; Moorhead Inclusive Playground- Family Picnic – details here

Friday October 22nd – Spooky Science for Halloween at Fargo Public Library. – details here