This past year, I participated in several outreach events that I would have loved to have attended in my primary and secondary education. In many ways, I aim to be the scientist I would have loved to see then: one who is confident in themselves and capable of explaining complex ideas without dispelling the magic behind it. Physics should be accessible to everyone, and by inviting people of all ages to participate, play, and question, we open a conversation on the barriers people feel after a tough class or intimidating equations. They may have had poor experiences with teachers or a feeling of intimidation of the equations and math. Science is for everyone, and being able to share my excitement for reflection and refraction demonstrations, for example, hopefully encourages someone else to approach physics not with a fear of it being difficult because of math, but rather a drive to seek the core of nature itself. This is why I decided to join the Outreach Fellowship.
The Outreach Fellowship gave me the opportunity to perform and teach others not only on my own research in Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC) and IceCube, but also general physics (e.g., electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, etc.) for a broader audience. These experiences included being a volunteer graduate student at the WiSci Fest with IceCube, mentoring high school students in the IceCube After-school Program, and performing in The Wonders of Physics Show as a contestant. All of these opportunities require hands-on demonstrations and strong science-communication skills. Discussing the importance of underlying concepts with excitement and enough finesse to capture the attention of the audience is difficult but rewarding.
I got better at reading whether families were following and adapting on the fly when they weren’t. Although I still have a ways to go, I have learned the power of using more intuitive vocabulary and real-life concepts or analogies that are more relatable to students, parents, and children. Members of the public who attend these events hopefully walk away with a better understanding of the concepts that make up the world around them, just as the volunteer might walk away with a fresher perspective on the bigger picture of what was presented.
In the IceCube Afterschool Program, I worked with other graduate students to help high school students experience the academic culture of asking questions, researching, experimenting, and making conclusions. This eight-week program was particularly rewarding, as I was able to help foster their curiosity and answer their questions about university and science education as a whole. Mentoring students beyond one-time events allowed me to provide deeper advice and insight, still using the science communication skills I had developed to break down difficult concepts.
In the future, I would like to continue representing IceCube and the Physics department in both short- and long-term volunteering events. I wish to further practice these communication skills that will serve me well in future teaching and research endeavors as well as for broader impacts on fellowship applications like the NSF GRFP proposal. Hopefully then I can inspire a child or student to pursue their own path in science to understand the concepts of the natural world.