Student Donates Hair to Children with Cancer

Frank had very long hair. I joked with him once about how he should cut it and donate it to Locks Of Love. He actually liked the idea and approached me later about cutting his hair and donating it. If you aren't familiar with them, Locks of Love takes hair donations (10 inches minimum) and makes them into hair pieces for children with cancer.

A couple of days ago Frank came to school with short hair, and though he took a few days to part with the actual pony tail, he gave it to me so I could help him mail it off. If you see Frank, though he'll be embarrassed, I think a non-chalant "That's a great thing you did" is in order.

DNA Extractions as Recruitment

My advanced Biotechnology students have begun a new project based unit where they have to recruit 8th graders from Le Conte into STEM by demonstrating a very entertaining DNA extraction. The students began by researching what type of things they can use for DNA extraction. They have performed DNA extraction from their own cells three times before, but now they are branching out! They also have to figure out how to make their demonstration both entertaining and educational. The students were very excited to perform extractions with many different types of fruits and vegetables - all of which they discovered from their own research.