Science teacher Jessica Girvin loves biology. With this love, she has taken over the BioConnect Club, which retired teacher, Patty Lawson, started years ago.
“When [Lawson] retired, they needed someone to take over [BioConnect] and I thought that sounded fun,” Givrin said. “This is the third year that [I’ve been] running it.”
Girvin appreciates that the club helps students interact with biology. The club spends their time focusing on stem cell research, cloning, and also interacting with antibiotic reactant organisms. One of the biggest goals of this club is being able to talk about topics that are able to impact peoples lives. With this club, students now have the opportunity to explore biotechnology topics with others that share the same interests.
“I love being with kids who are excited about biology,” Girvin said. “The best is when kids say, ‘hey, what about this?’ Or ‘what does it mean when’.”
Girvin said it is these kinds of questions that lead the club members to “look at different things that we might not have looked at [in class],” Girvin said. “I just like the curiosity that kids bring to the club,” Girvin said.
One of these curious students is senior Reagan Delude, the president of BioConnect.
“BioConnect is pretty much our way of turning biology into the physical world,” Delude said.
In the club, students try to touch upon different aspects of biology and experience this science firsthand.
“One activity we’ve done is swabs around the school to see bacteria grow on petri dishes,” Delude said. “We’re thinking about doing art for the biology club as well, like, petri dish art out of the bacteria.”
Another activity the club has done involving bacteria is “mixing all of the agar plates to swab for bacteria,” Girvin said.
The activities aren’t the only enjoyable moments in the club. The community and the students make it a fun environment to be in as well.
“I love the kids in the club, I think that it’s a very fun group,” Girvin said. “It’s just a lot of really positive energy. [There are] kids who are very serious about biology and kids who, maybe are less serious, but enjoy being here and with their friends and getting involved.”
Girvin describes the students as “very open and welcoming” and they are always looking for new members.
“Try it out if this is something that interests you.” Girvin said.. “[The club members] get excited when [new] people come. I think that if you make it, the group kind of sells itself. It’s just a lot of positive energy.”
