Antarctica Community Night

Over 100 students, teachers, and interested members of the community came out for Antarctica Community Night at Washington-Lee High School. It started with a 20-minute presentation by Kate discussing neutrinos, IceCube, and life at the South Pole. Younger attendees could color an Antarctica-themed coloring book, drawn by students Douglas Aparicio and Erin Ingram. This was followed by 4 stations - standard model, IceCube, Antarctica Fun Facts Quiz, and ECW - designed and run by Kate's IB Physics students, Apara Manuja, Tessa O'Hara, Casey Donovan, Niki Kosar, Isabel Delaney, Tommy Ellis, Pablo Para, Natalie Heckman, and Will Stengle. Photography student Shane Armstrong captured the entire night. Overall, participants young and old learned about the science of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory through interactive activities.

Some of the Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear that participants got to try on. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Tommy showing off the ECW. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Any outfit wouldn't be complete without some IceCube temporary tattoos. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) A DOM (Digital Optical Module) that detects the signature blue light that comes from a neutrino interaction. There are over 5000 of these DOMs buried deep in the South Pole ice. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Casey and Niki came up with a great activity with playdough to teach about the fundamental building blocks of matter - quarks and leptons. Did you know that two up quarks and a down quark make up a proton? (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Some stuffed animal particles - the neutron neutron, a positive proton, a tiny electron, a charged muon, and of course a neutrino (dressed like a ninja because they're so stealthy!). (Credit: Shane Armstrong) My students an I hung pictures all over the windows where people walked in. A great way to kick off Antarctica Night. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Welcome to Antarctica Community Night! Left: A cardboard cutout my students surprised me with upon returning from my expedition. Middle: Crayons and Antarctica-themed coloring books (designed by students Douglas & Erin) to keep the little ones entertained through the presentation. Right: A question box, just in case someone still have a question on their way out. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Some souvenirs from the South Pole - including post cards, pictures, and stickers. The stamps on the right are available at the southernmost Post Office on earth! (Credit: Shane Armstrong) IB Physics students Apara and Tessa explain the inner workings of a DOM to some community member (Credit: Shane Armstrong) A pretty full crowd of people of all ages at Antarctica Community Night. Over 100 people came out! (Credit: Shane Armstrong) IB Physics students Pablo and Natalie pose for a picture with one attendee. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Getting ready for the presentation at Antarctica Community Night. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Starting off Antarctica Community Night with one of my favorite pictures - a handstand at the Ceremonial South Pole. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) What an attentive audience! Thanks to everyone who came out! (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Explaining just how the IceCube Neutrino Observatory detects neutrinos at the South Pole. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) The audience listening intently to the presentation on IceCube. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Presenting about the science of IceCube. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) An attentive audience during the presentation portion of the night. (Credit; Shane Armstrong) Students Apara and Tessa showing off the DOM - Digital Optical Module. This piece of equipment detects the signature light that comes from a neutrino interaction! (Credit: Shane Armstrong) An audience of all ages looks on as students Apara and Tessa explain the DOM. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Niki discusses the standard model using play dough to build different particles. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Niki uses a stuffed neutrino dressed as a ninja to talk about just how hard neutrinos are to detect. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Natalie checks a participant's Antarctic Fun Facts Quiz against the answer key. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Isabel talks about the Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear that scientists wear in Antarctica. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Participants looks at the many South Pole souvenirs. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Answering question. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Tessa and Apara rocking their IceCube Station. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Niki & Casey engage the younger participants using play dough to explain the standard model. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) A participant tries on the ECW. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) She did it! Head to toe ECW. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Participants could time how long it took to put on the ECW. Cristina took the gold with a mere 21.09 seconds! Impressive. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Participants are learning about neutrinos and the IceCube detector from Apara & Tessa. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Jake had lots of fun building particles out of play dough. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Casey teaches middle schoolers about quarks and leptons. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Protons and neutrons and electrons, oh my! (Credit: Shane Armstrong) From maps to patches to post cards, everything was laid out for participants to see at Antarctica Community Night. (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Tessa shows a picture of the server room at the IceCube Lab. So many cables! (Credit: Shane Armstrong) Apara is holding the umbilical cord (appropriately named) on the DOM. This is the first step in getting the data from the DOM up to the surface. (Credit: Shane Armstrong)