My first experience with science outreach came as a junior in high school. My friends and I loved to go to the Minnesota Zoo, and one of them was volunteering at kids Minnesota Zoo summer day camps. She invited me to join, and two summers of teaching kids zoology later I’d unwittingly taken the first steps into my passion for science communication and outreach.
When I reached the University of Wisconsin – Madison, I began in the BioHouse Learning Community. One of the perks of this learning community was that we came to campus a week early to be a part of the STEM Immersion Bootcamp created the WISCIENCE department (Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement).
I absolutely loved the bootcamp and applied to be one of the bootcamp’s group leader.
I also joined the WISCIENCE department’s student club and met so many like-minded peers curious to learn more about science outreach.
For my senior year, I applied to help run the STEM Immersion bootcamp, which was a student run endeavor. I, and five other students, were selected with the task to organize and run a 350 person 4-day bootcamp for incoming underrepresented groups of freshmen and transfer students pursuing STEM degrees.
I loved the entire process, from start-to-finish. Not only was I showing how much fun science can be to new faces, but now I was also helping organize how we would show science is fun.
In the same WISCIENCE department, I became a BioCommons Ambassador at the Steenbock Library my senior year. This position was in the BioCommons area of the library (an area dedicated to STEM learning). My roles including helping students who came down to the area find the right resources they needed, be that tutoring, career workshops, networking, or just simply having a chat about research or degree options. I also helped plan events for the space, including study jams, and career fairs, and a three part series Finding Yourself in STEM.
I absolutely loved every second of doing science outreach and communication, and finally knew what to call it. I found a way to combine two things I love doing: science and teaching.
The next year, flying to the opposite end of the country for graduate school, I was left with the unknown of how I could continue science outreach.
Fortunately, I’ve been lucky enough to find new opportunities to do both science and teach!
