Breaking the Barrier Between Science and Community

Abstract

The Albion College Biochemistry Club, a student chapter of ASBMB, was created in the fall of 2016 to create a community for like‐minded students and integrate the Albion community with Albion College. This follows the Albion‐Marshall School District merger in 2014 along with the increased requirement of K‐12 science education in the State of Michigan. The need for science exposure and cross‐community interaction between the towns of Marshall and Albion lent itself to an opportunity for the students at Albion College. With many of our current students at Albion College experiencing the merger firsthand, we understood the potential of our impact upon younger generations that had not previously had meaningful interactions with local college students. The Albion College Biochemistry Club has therefore been designing and executing programming to generate excitement for science in younger generations within the local school district. In a short amount of time, the Biochemistry Club has participated in judging local science fairs, providing demonstrations across varying ages, and supporting local vendors, while instilling a sense of greater purpose within college students. Focusing first on sharing science in the classroom has encouraged our students to explain science in a way that people of all ages can understand. The success of this programing from the Albion College Biochemistry Club has resulted in an influx of member attendance and a feeling of excitement to learn about science from the classrooms we visit. The work completed by the Albion College Biochemistry Club has been monumental in bridging science through both the college student and the community of youth, but there is always more work to be done.