Melrinea Davis said her nine-year-old son Misael loves science, and when the family heard about the University of Chicago’s annual South Side Science Festival through his school, they had to check it out.
She watched as he hovered over a training dummy and listened intently as a UChicago Medicine volunteer explained that if Misael ever has to perform CPR, he can remember how fast the chest compressions need to be by humming “Baby Shark.” During the daylong event, he also examined snails through a microscope and later planned to watch a liquid nitrogen demonstration with Fermilab scientist “Mr. Freeze.”
“This is good for the community,” Davis said. “A lot of the schools don’t have the funding to let the kids get a lot of hands-on experience in science, so it gives them a chance to learn something they might not get to see in school.”
Davis and her son were among 4,500 attendees at the third annual festival, held on campus on Oct. 5. Co-organized by UChicago’s Biological Sciences Division, Physical Sciences Division, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and Office of Civic Engagement, the festival aims to bring the campus and broader South Side communities together to explore science in a fun, accessible way. From opportunities to control robots and 3D printers to panels on health trends and AI to a paper airplane design contest and explosive liquid nitrogen demonstrations, the event offered education and excitement for visitors of all ages.
“It’s our hope that the festival sparked inspiration and showed that STEM can be fun and accessible, especially for our youngest attendees and those who might not otherwise be exposed to these subjects,” said Sarah Tinsman, program director for inclusive innovation in the Office of Civic Engagement and the festival’s lead organizer. “We would love for events like this to be an entry point for our neighbors to keep the scientific momentum going by participating in one of the University’s STEM programs for local residents and, ultimately, consider exploring a career in a STEM field.”
Stronger support
Organizers say volunteer support for the event more than doubled this year, with nearly 1,000 UChicago students staff, and faculty supporting either a science station or the event more generally. Whereas in years past the majority of event volunteers were graduate students in STEM divisions, this year volunteers represented units and roles all across campus, according to volunteer coordinator Lauren McNamara, a fifth-year Ph.D. student in chemistry.
“It was really neat to see all these different parts of the University were coming together to help put this on,” McNamara said. Building those bridges not only introduces people to STEM who might not previously have been exposed to it, McNamara said, but also helps strengthen the science itself by inspiring a more diverse future STEM workforce—a central goal of UChicago’s broader Inclusive Innovation initiative.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
