The Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts held its second Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) career expo “Changing the World through STEM” in Framingham, Massachusetts in March 2014. The goal of the expo was to encourage girls from 6th–12th grade to pursue careers in science and technology. Over 100 girls attended. The Society of Toxicology was well–represented at this event with the presentation of two workshops and a demonstration table at the expo. The Northeast Chapter (NESOT) of SOT kindly provided the funds to support the activities and giveaways with the assistance of Courtney McGinnis, the NESOT K–12 Outreach Contact.
The event was led by Courtney Horvath (Sanofi/Genzyme) with the assistance of R. Larry Thomas (CellDex), Allen Pierce (Alkermes), David Brewster (Vertex), and Carrie Hendricks (Sanofi/Genzyme).
Pictured above (right): Girl Scouts visited the tradeshow table and participated in a Salt Water Dose Response Curve. The workshops consisted of an interactive introduction to toxicology. The students then participated in a dose response exercise tasting various concentrations of salt water, followed by a product safety awareness exercise. Picutured on the left is the organizer of this event Courtney Horvath displaying the Salt Water Dose Response Curve generated through the day.
The salt water dose response curve demonstration was carried over to the expo and by the end of the day over 100 girls had participated to generate an amazing dose response! Visitors to the SOT table had the opportunity to learn about household product safety awareness and pick up several great handouts, fun give-away pens, and candy!
T
he girls who participated were excited to learn about toxicology concepts, and it was rewarding for the facilitators to see the concepts being applied. Many of the girls who attended the workshop were excited to bring their friends (who were not placed in the toxicology workshops) to our demonstration table and show them how the dose response curve worked.
Volunteers pictured (right) from left to right are R. Larry Thomas (CellDex), Carrie Hendricks (Sanofi/Genzyme), Courtney Horvath (Sanofi/Genzyme), and David Brewster (Vertex). Allen Pierce (Alkermes) is not pictured.
Various handouts and slide decks were generated from this wonderful event, and I would be happy to share them with anyone who is interested in running a similar event in their community. Contact me at Courtney Horvath for more information.