CSU Anthropology Club was invited to participate in Rice Elementary School’s Annual Science Night on March 4, 2016 and the club’s student volunteers – Emily Anderson, Zane Bamesberger, Rob Else, Anna Fowler, Kaylee Karmazin, and Kristin Welch, as well as communications coordinator Katie Horton and instructor Keri Canada – planned and contributed to each activity for the school visit.

The volunteers were able to exercise their current knowledge of anthropology and education in order to implement diverse anthropological activities that were engaging for elementary students and their siblings.

The school provided each participating group or organization a classroom so that they could set up their science stations for the elementary students and their families.

For the 2016 event, there were 25 groups including CSU’s Department of Microbiology, Agronomy Club, Agricultural Club, Chemistry Club, and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

Five activities were developed by the anthropology volunteers in order to incorporate the three anthropological concentrations highlighted in our department – archaeology, biological anthropology and cultural anthropology – and included comparative cultures, excavation, stratigraphy, pottery reconstruction, and comparative anatomy .

Our CSU Anthropology Club received a Certificate of Appreciation for participating in the event from Rice Elementary along with Thank You Cards from the elementary students.

“Rice would like to include a big thank you to the Anthropology Club for participating and helping to make it one of our most successful Science Nights. It is so important to expose our students to all type of fields where science is used, and students were fascinated with the “Exploration & Excavation” the CSU Anthropology Club provided.”

The Department of Anthropology will continue contributing to Rice Elementary School’s Annual Science Night as it was a fun and engaging outreach opportunity that everyone enjoyed.