Girls learn about science and engineering at Clemson

Photo by Ken Ruinard

Aurie Jones, 14, left, of Anderson and Amanda Thomas 17, of Williamston participate in an open heart bypass surgery with a cow heart during a biology class segment of Project WISE (Women in Science and Engineering)at Clemson University. A variety of science topics are attended by the students all week for rising eighth grade girls. "It's interesting to find out about the human body," said Ms. Jones, who starts her freshman year at Westside High School next year.

CLEMSON UNIVERSITY — “Ewww!” and “Cool!” were two phrases heard as young ladies preformed mock bypass surgery on bovine hearts on Tuesday.

The girls are part of a weeklong camp, “It’s a Girl Thing,” to get more interested in science and engineering fields.

Serita Acker, the camp’s program director, said each day has a schedule filled with fun activities in the science and engineering fields.

The biology session is one of the most interesting for the girls, and also the one that is sometimes the hardest to handle, she said.

According to Jenny Trombley, who oversees the girls’ operations on their “patients,” the bypass surgery allows them to see plaque build-up in the heart as well as fat from an unhealthy diet.

“Women need to keep their heart healthy and looking at the heart will make them more aware of the problems they could encounter being unhealthy,” Trombley said.

This is the 11th year of the camp, which is funded by Duke Energy. This year Eastman, Bosch, the Bioengineering Department at Clemson, and the Access and Equity Department gave scholarships for the girls to attend.

Other classes include electrical, industrial and civil engineering; biology; math; and parks, recreation and tourism management.

Kim Hunter said she was enjoying herself and liked civil and industrial the best.

“But they all have all kinds of projects in all of them,” Hunter said.

The electrical engineering session allowed the girls to build a small solar-powered spider robot. On Tuesday, the girls built a motor for the robot, which they will finish during the rest of the camp’s electrical engineering sessions.

During the industrial engineering sessions, the girls learned how to plan their 16th birthday party and learned how to plan a wedding. Civil engineering allows the girls to look at GPS systems and learn how they work.

During the math session, the girls learn to crack secret codes and prepare for some college-level math classes they will have to take in the future.

The Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management time allows the girls a chance to participate in non-traditional sports.

The girls will also attend a dance class every night for the week. After the dance class each night, the program has something special for the girls to enjoy. Monday night was movie night, Tuesday night was game night, tonight the girls will go to a special dance night, and Thursday they will enjoy a Spa Night.

“This year we have a smaller group, we only have 25 young ladies. It the past, we usually have at least 60, but this year funding came in late.” Acker said.

The camp started on Sunday with check-ins and a start into engineering with a 45-minute session on how to engineer an Ice Cream sundae.

While working on the cow heart, the surgery included several stages, with pre-op, the actual surgery, recovery for the “patient,” then clean up.

“Make sure that all of the tools are accounted for,” said Trombley. “You don’t want to leave any in the ‘patient’.”

Some girls were more enthusiastic about performing the mock-bypass than others.

“Just stab it!” said one.

“Don’t cut that far!” said another, followed by “I can’t do this, I can watch though.”

Some girls were forced to do the surgery alone, including Aurie Jones, who loved doing the bypass. “It’s hard but once you get past the muscle tissue, it’s easier.” She said. “Its fun to see the valves.”

Jones is an Anderson resident who attends Lakeside Middle School.