Hope College will host its annual “Brain Day” with activities geared especially toward K-12 students on Saturday, Feb. 29, from 9 a.m. to noon at the A. Paul Schaap Science Center.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The morning will feature a variety of brain-related activities, including controlling a robotic arm with one’s brain, brain crafts and coloring, testing one’s reflexes and fooling one’s senses; insight into how music can be therapeutic for the brain; and the opportunity to hold a real brain. Participants will also have a chance to win Hope- and neuroscience-themed prizes.
The “Brain Day” activities are scheduled in advance of National Brain Awareness Week, which is running Monday-Sunday, March 16-22, this year. Launched by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, the week is designed to highlight brain science advances and the importance of brain-related research. Also in conjunction with the week, Hope professors and students will be visiting local school classrooms as well as the Children’s After School Achievement (CASA) and Step-Up after-school program at Hope to talk about the brain and provide entertaining activities.
This year’s activities are supported in part by an $1,800 Society for Neuroscience Chapter Grant received in collaboration with the University of Michigan, which each year brings graduate students to Hope to participate in running the Brain Day events. Campus sponsors of Brain Day and other Brain Awareness Week events at Hope include the college’s Cultural Affairs Committee, Division of the Natural and Applied Sciences, Division of Social Sciences, ExploreHope, Neuroscience Program, and music and psychology departments.
Audience members who need assistance to fully enjoy any event at Hope are encouraged to contact the college's Events and Conferences Office by emailing events@hope.edu or calling 616-395-7222 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The A. Paul Schaap Science Center is located at 35 E. 12th St., at the corner of 12th Street and College Avenue.