Partnership Program for Young Science Writers
Science Education at Fred Hutch has teamed up with the Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas (BFI), a non-profit youth serving organization, to offer partnership programs for elementary-aged students.
2022 Program: Beyond the Lab
As part of this Saturday workshop series, youth created immune cell trading cards and produced creative writing inspired by scientific images straight out of Fred Hutch labs provided by the Hutch United Art Lab Project. During a field trip to Fred Hutch’s South Lake Union campus, these young storytellers took on the role of reporters as they conducted interviews, engaged in hands-on science activities, and went on a campus tour (with a scavenger hunt!) – all with the goal of writing a news article about their experience visiting a cancer center.
Pipetting Rainbows — Graduate Research Assistant Emily Teets (Singhvi Lab) shows participants from BFI-Greenwood (and BFI Program Manager Bryan Wilson) how to use micropipettes by transferring colored water to well plates and making colorful designs on blotter paper.
Smooshing Strawberries — Kelly Heard leads participants from BFI-Greenwood in a strawberry DNA extraction protocol. Kelly is a MCB graduate student in the MacPherson Lab and a coordinator of Hutch United’s Art Lab Project.
Worm fight! — A program participant from BFI-Greenwood views C. elegans worms interacting under a dissecting microscope. Graduate Research Assistant Violet Sorrentino studies the nervous system of these tiny worms in the Singhvi Lab.
Hands-on Science — A participant from BFI-Greenwood shows off a clump of DNA extracted from a strawberry. During the workshop series, participants learned about cells, DNA, and the immune system. Reflecting on his visit to Fred Hutch, this young storyteller called it “a once in a lifetime experience.”
Campus Tour — Rachel Werther (a research technician in the Campbell Lab) gathers participants from BFI-Greenwood around a plaque marking a buried time capsule filled with objects representing the state of biosciences research.
Baseball Connections — Dr. Brad Krajina gave a brief history of the cancer center and its namesake, former baseball pitcher and team manager Fred Hutchinson. Here, Brad shows students from BFI-Greenwood a photo of the seat row ends at T-Mobile Stadium, all of which feature an image of Fred Hutchinson. At the time, Brad was a post-doc in the Cheung Lab as well as a talented 3D artist and baseball fan. In an earlier workshop session, Brad led participants in creating their own immune cell trading cards.
Immune System Trading Cards — After learning about some of the cells that help keep the body healthy, participants were challenged to create trading cards that featured a character inspired by a cell. Here a young storyteller from BFI-Greenwood has created a mucus-producing character based on a goblet cell (left) and a creative depiction of the virus that causes the common cold (right). Artwork by Clem B.
2024 Program: Tiny Worlds
Working in partnership with the Hutch United Art Lab Project, elementary aged students met with scientists, explored images from their research, and created art projects inspired by this encounter. During a Saturday field trip to Fred Hutch, these young students and their parents extracted Tiny DNA from strawberries, made Tiny Art using micropipettes to transfer Tiny Amounts of colored water, and explored Tiny Things using magnifying tools to observe nature objects and wriggly C. elegans worms. They also went on a tour of the Fred Hutch campus.
Program Flyer — A program flyer on display at BFI's Yesler Terrace location.
Tiny DNA — Graduate Research Assistant Jenny Ahn (Bloom Lab) helps a young scientist pour a solution of smooshed strawberries into a funnel as they work to extract DNA from cells. Kelly Heard (MacPherson Lab) is seen in the background.
Tiny DNA — Graduate Research Assistant Kelly Heard (MacPherson Lab) assists a young scientist from BFI-Yesler Terrace to extract DNA from smooshed strawberries.
Tiny Amounts — SciEd staff Dr. Mary Grace Katsuiime talks with a young scientist from BFI-Yesler Terrace as she transfers tiny amounts of colored water using a micropipette.
Tiny Art — Graduate Research Assistant Laura Belmont (Goo Lab) explains how to use a micropipette as students and parents from BFI-Yesler Terrace make art by dripping colored water onto filter paper.
Tiny Things — Graduate Research Assistant German Rojas (Singhvi Lab) helps a young scientist from BFI-Yesler Terrace learn how to use a microscope to observe wriggly C. elegans worms.
Tiny Things — A young scientist from BFI-Yesler Terrace uses a handheld microscope and a magnifying loupe to observe objects from nature.
Art + Science — Participants at BFI-Yesler Terrace’s afterschool program worked with Fred Hutch scientists to create art inspired by images straight out of our labs.
Partnership Statement
These programs were developed and facilitated in partnership with Science Education staff Dr. Kristen Bergsman, Hutch United Art Lab Project coordinator Kelly Heard (a Graduate Research Assistant in the MacPherson Lab), and program managers from the Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas. We express our gratitude to Fred Hutch staff who gave generously of their time to support this partnership.
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Campus Tours, Visits and Speakers
To learn about opportunities for campus tours, visits, and speakers and to make a request, please visit our SciEd Educational Experiences page.
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