LA GRANDE – (Release from the Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center) On October 25th, 88 middle schoolers from 16 schools came to Eastern Oregon University (EOU) to explore a costume party gone wrong–Dracula’s body was found, then disappeared!
Every year at Investigators of Science, students solve one of our three rotating mysteries. EOU and Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center (NEOAHEC) host the event on campus with the help of over 50 volunteers!
For this year’s mystery, students investigated crime scenes, then rotated through Biology, Chemistry, Math, and Health & Human Performance stations. They learned how to decode secret messages, analyze samples of various substances to determine their source, learned the science behind various yard games, and used the scientific method to make a guess at what happened to Dracula.
What makes people choose STEM?
A career in healthcare begins with being fascinated by science at an early age. Investigators of Science was created over twenty years ago to do just that—introduce STEM subjects to middle school students and show them what it’s like to be in college.
According to a 2023 study, “If you want someone to be good at something, you want them to develop a sense of efficacy, which is about putting them in a position where they can see themselves doing it and succeeding at it, and seeing other people that look like them doing it as well.”
Partnering with Eastern Oregon University
The most valuable part of the event is that students don’t just get to try out scientific exploration; they get to be guided through the experiments by current EOU students and professors. This, paired with walking around campus, eating lunch in the cafeteria, and using the college’s equipment, helps students visualize what their future could hold.
We have seen this event succeed firsthand—every year there are EOU student volunteers who attended the event when they were in middle school, and it reaffirms that this event is doing what it needs to do.
Thank you to the following organizations that contributed to the event’s success:
Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing La Grande Campus
Richland branch of the American Chemical Society
La Grande branch of Soroptimist International
American Association of University Women