Hay everyone!
We’ve been having quite the warm weather this week in New Jersey! I always enjoy seeing the students take a break from their end-of-semester studies to spend some time outside, especially when it means coming with their friends to see the farm. That reminds me, we had a lot of new visitors on the farm last week. Hmmmmm, I know they definitely weren’t undergraduate students, a lot of them were a bit too young for that.
I remember! We hosted “Bring Your Child to Work Day!” Each year this day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in April, and adults bring their children to work to learn about what actually happens when these adults go to work each day. This isn’t just a Rutgers thing either, this happens all across the United States! (I wonder if there was a way that I could sneak in with one of those adults who makes donuts… I haven’t had a good donut in a while…).
At this year’s Bring Your Child to Work Day over on the Cook Campus, kids were treated to a choose-your-own adventure-style day. We had 8 different activities to choose from, with most of them being offered twice throughout the day. So, if you had to miss one, you were able to see it again at a different time.
They included things like “Pot Painting” at the Rutgers Gardens, “Sketching” with Landscape Architecture, “Under the Microscope” with Microbiology, Tours of the Rutgers Greenhouses, and other fun events at Nutritional Sciences, 4-H, and Marine Sciences. But the best option (if I do say so myself) was a Tour of the Equine Exercise Physiology Lab with a High-Speed Horses Treadmill Demo!
The kids were treated to a treadmill demo, were even able to learn about some of the equipment in the lab and were even able to get a picture with our very own Jolee. Art, one of the geldings that is part of our research herd, was hooked up to electrocardiogram (ECG) equipment and we were able to see how excited he was to meet everyone. We saw his heart rate and everything!
Then it was back to Jolee to show off the new 3-D Scanner that we have in the lab. It can take a 3-D picture of a horse so that the scientists are able to look at things like muscle mass, fat, and body composition. (They say will use it to learn more about how muscles change over time, but I just think that they want to be able to take 3-D pictures of me so that they can print mini-3-D Nelsons with their 3-D printer!). To end the tour everyone took a picture with Jolee and left with their very own “Equine Science 4 Kids!” bag.
I hope y’all enjoyed hearing a little bit about Take Your Child to Work Day! If it sounded interesting, we’ll be hosting our annual Summer Showcase in July where we will show off many of the same things. So be sure to watch out for my blog post next month!
Until next time.
Your friend,
Lord Nelson