Instead of watching Saturday morning cartoons, these students got out of bed early to come to Cornell University to learn about how light can be focused and used for scientific experiments. In addition to creating edge-lit cards by carving scraps of plexiglass material and hooking up LED's to button-batteries, kids took a tour of the CHESS experimental hutches. They peered into a microscope to view samples of crystalized proteins and learned how light from the accelerator is captured to produce extraordinary images of tiny structures.
The coordinators of The Science and Mathematics Saturday Academy, Abe and Denise Lee, are retired Ithaca City School teachers and advocates of STEM education at all grade levels. The Academy has supported the academic excellence and personal achievement of Black, Latino and other under-represented youth for over 20 years. CHESS has provided funds to help students and families involved in the Science and Math Academy travel to and from locations throughout Tompkins county, supporting the program's mission to introduce students to the resources, research and opportunities available to them at Cornell. We look forward to hosting a future visit from the Academy this spring!