Photographer: Amber Elizondo, Texan Mosiac Staff
Giant skeletons with glowing eyes greeted visitors who were brave enough to enter the front doors. Test tubes bubbled with mysterious foam while creepy critters slithered or crawled from person to person.
It was all part of the Spooky Science Fest that attracted crowds of students Halloween week inside the Wilburn and Helen Wheeler Science Center.
“This year, we added two new 12’ skeletons to our event and hosted a naming contest that resulted in some incredible engagement with our student population,” says Kristin Bingham, biology department chair and associate professor of biology.
Inside the event, there were plenty of activities such as pumpkin painting, slime making, DNA extracting, and owl vomit dissecting.
What do organizers hope students learned?
“That science doesn’t have to be ‘scary’, says Bingham, “that it actually is what makes the world make sense and that we as faculty are just so excited to share our passion with them.”
But beware. What does sound a little scary is organizers say they’re already planning for next year’s event.
Bingham says the skeleton naming contest was a huge success. In case you were wondering, the winning names: Big Chungus and Joshem.
“Big Chungus” is a meme from the 2000s involving Bugs Bunny. “Joshem” was suggested by members of the track team, Bingham says, to recognize one of the track athletes who’s from Grenada.
“We will have a naming contest from now on,” Bingham says.
Leave a Reply