Campfires, songs, and… antibody structures? It doesn’t sound like your typical summer camp experience. But there’s nothing “typical” about West Virginia University college students traveling the state and giving youths as young as eight and as old as 21 the opportunity to participate in hands-on science, technology, engineering and math learning.
Katherine Grimes, a senior in the Immunology and Medical Microbiology program in the WVU School of Medicine, taught STEM courses at five different WVU 4-H camps this summer through the 4-H STEM ambassador program.
IMMB students are “disease detectives” who fully study the immune system and identify the mechanisms utilized by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites to cause disease. Drawing on those foundations in her major, Grimes focused her lessons on teaching campers about antibody proteins, specifically how they work and are structured.
“It’s a hard sell for some. It’s tough to get them excited about STEM when you’re competing with things like swimming, archery or other recreational activities,” the Huntington native, said.
Grimes knew she had to relate to the campers and shifted curriculum delivery to something in plain sight that mattered immensely to them.
The answer? Nametags.
“Nametags are a big deal at 4-H camp. Campers put a lot of effort in personalizing and decorating them to show off, share what they’ve done and add some flair in these pieces that travel with them from camp to camp, year to year,” Grimes explained.
“Once that clicked for me, we came back with a new activity that allowed campers to learn about antibody structures. We had them craft a model that they then could attach to their nametag, take with them and then explain it to their peers who asked about it at meals or in their cabin,” she said.
Grimes attributed that ability to explain complicated scientific concepts to broader audiences to faculty members in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, including Kelly Collins, Ph.D., and Edwin Wan, Ph.D., who encourage students to increase their abilities to communicate about their scientific work and how to break down specific concepts into something that’s easily translated.
“Their mentorship has been great, and it’s been incredibly fulfilling to be able to develop my own communication style to pass down what I’ve learned to inspire the next generation who are getting ready to start exploring their interests and furthering their education,” she concluded.
Collins, vice chair of the department, was the faculty member who was initially responsible for getting the word out about the WVU 4-H STEM Ambassador program to her students.
“As scientists, we have a big responsibility to communicate the significance of our findings to the general public. Unfortunately, we haven’t always done the best job of doing this in a way that is accessible to non-scientists. Katy reminded me that in order to make science more accessible, it needs to be fun,” said Collins. “Her creativity helped get kids excited to learn about how antibodies keep us healthy from diseases, which in turn may spark a passion in a child who has never hear about microbes of immunology before. I can’t wait to see what else she does to get young kids excited to learn about the immune system!”
IMMB students also get opportunities for formal research during the course of their degree programs and Grimes is collaborating with faculty for a more formal experience in authoring papers and discovering more ways to communicate scientific concepts to broader audiences.
Grimes hopes to carry the momentum through the rest of her degree and into a M.D. program that has an emphasis on academic medicine and teaching. Her eventual aspirations are to become a physician as well as teaching faculty at an academic medical center.
For more information about the Immunology and Medical Microbiology program, visit medicine.wvu.edu/immunology-and-medical-microbiology/.
