2014 Jazz at the Labs: Raising Funds for FHL's K-12 Science Outreach Program (FHLSOP)
San Juan Island and Seattle jazz talents joined together on Saturday, June 14th 2014 to raise funds for FHL's K-12 Science Outreach Program. While the San Juan Jazz Quintet (Fig. 1) launched the evening’s program in fine style, guests enjoyed a mighty fine seafood jambalaya perfectly prepared by Laurie Spaulding and her gifted co-workers in the historic FHL Dining Hall. The evening’s program continued with a performance by Seattle’s talented Jazz Coalescence (Fig. 2). Public Radio celebrities Dick Stein (KPLU) and Jim Wilke (KPLU, PRI) also joined the night’s festivities in support of the FHLSOP.
Between jazz sets, Jenny Roberts, Director of the FHL Science Outreach Program, shared details about the K-12 program that was established in 2001 as a partnership between the Friday Harbor Labs, the San Juan Island School District, and the Spring Street International School. The program focuses on getting students actively engaged in the process of science with hands-on, inquiry-based projects that are specifically designed to complement and enhance the current science curriculum in the local schools. In the 2013/2014 academic year, the FHLSOP worked with over 735 local students and 23 teachers, reaching students in every grade on the Island. What an impact this program has on local students!
Jenny also expressed her sincere gratitude to the many local businesses and individuals who sponsored the event. The 2014 sponsors included: Burke Critchfield, C & E Publications, Cask and Schooner Restaurant, Friday Harbor Drug, Island Petroleum Services, Islanders Insurance, Luxel Corporation, the Olshefsky Family, Post San Juan, Roche Harbor Resort, Rock Island Technology Solutions, San Juan Propane, San Juan Vineyards, Susan and Gary Sterner, and Wells Fargo Bank.
Guests recognized the importance of supporting the FHL K-12 Science Outreach Program and rallied to support three particular program “needs":
• Diver for a Day Program. This program is hugely popular with the Friday Harbor Elementary School’s 3rd grade students. Onboard the R/V Centennial, students follow SCUBA divers via video and audio feeds as they explore the subtidal zone of Parks Bay. Students learn about marine organisms and are able to ask questions of the submerged divers. They participate in water dynamics demonstrations and learn about differences between fresh water and salt water in the Salish Sea. Students are also able to touch, observe, and learn about marine animals brought up from the dive.
• Invasive Mussel Project Biotechnology Lab. In this nine-day lab, high school biology students extract, purify, isolate, and amplify mussel DNA to create a DNA fingerprint. This fingerprint is used to determine whether a wild mussel is a native or an invasive species. In the process, students learn to use micropipettes, electrophoresis chambers, and a PCR machine, and how to interpret a DNA fingerprint.
• Nearshore Habitat Project. This project teaches 4th grade students about the importance of two vital ecosystems through a series of classroom activities and labs focusing on watersheds, fish metabolism, eelgrass ecosystems, and fish species diversity. The unit culminates with two beach seines. Students create hypotheses from collected data and present their results to their peers and FHLSOP staff.
All of us at FHL extend our appreciation to the 2014 Sponsors, FHLSOP supporters, San Juan Jazz Quintet, Jazz Coalescence, Carolyn Haugen, Debbie Taylor, Adam Summers, Laurie Spaulding and the talented Labs Kitchen staff, Dick Stein and Jim Wilke, who made the 2014 Jazz at the Labs a huge success!
Please enjoy Jim Wilke’s recording of Jazz Coalescence from 2014’s Jazz at the Labs, as featured on Jazz Northwest, http://www.kplu.org/post/jazz-northwest-june-22-2014.
