Chancellor brings magic to MySci Resource Center opening (VIDEO)

‘Magic Mark’ Wrighton’s science demonstration kicks off successful launch of ISP’s new science education outreach center

Susan Flowers (left), assistant director of the Institute for School Partnership (ISP), releases confetti amid the revelry of a smoke machine as the ISP celebrated science and the opening of its new MySci Resource Center Feb. 18. (Credit: Joe Angeles)

The MySci Resource Center, the new hub of Washington University in St. Louis’ Institute for School Partnership (ISP) in University City, Mo., launched Feb. 18 to great fanfare.

Refurbished with the help of a $2.2 million grant from the Monsanto Fund, the MySci Resource Center houses educational classrooms, meeting rooms and a warehouse of educational science materials. It becomes the nerve center of the ISP, WUSTL’s signature effort to strategically improve teaching and learning within the K-12 education community in the St. Louis region.

Victoria May, executive director of the ISP, introduces a panel of dignitaries on hand for the opening, including (from left) Henry S. Webber, Angela Kinlaw, Deborah Patterson and Jan Holloway. (Credit: Joe Angeles)

Officials from Washington University, Monsanto Co., and the Monsanto Fund were on hand, including Wrighton; Victoria May, assistant dean of Arts & Sciences and executive director of the Institute for School Partnership; Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration; Jan Holloway, senior vice president, chief of staff and community relations for Monsanto Co.; Deborah Patterson, president of the Monsanto Fund; and Angela Kinlaw, principal of Barack Obama Elementary in the Normandy School District, a school that has been involved with the MySci program for several years.

Wrighton donned goggles and a lab coat to open the festivities and gave an entertaining and enlightening science demonstration. The WUSTL chancellor is a chemist by training and demonstrated to students from KIPP Inspire Academy and other area schools the magic of chemistry and how fun science can be. A video is below.

Students also were able to take part in hands-on science experiments; tour the MySci Investigation Station from its new base of operations; and explore the ISP’s Star Lab, a portable “mini-planetarium” that, on this day, projected the night sky.

More than 250 friends and stakeholders of the ISP, including area teachers, students and community partners as well as Washington University Faculty Fellows, attended the opening.

To learn more about the ISP and its community outreach efforts, visit schoolpartnership.wustl.edu.

Highlights from Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton’s science demonstration at the Feb. 18 opening of the Institute for School Partnership MySci Resource Center. Video by Tom Malkowicz/WUSTL Video Services.