As fourth-grader Zhu Zhu Cai began dissecting a cow’s eyeball March 13 during Willard PTO’s Festival of Science, she cautiously asked if it would squirt anything at her as she began cutting.
“Just keep your mouth closed, it won’t go into your mouth,” joked Dr. Jeff Schaider, an emergency room physician at Cook County Hospital and former Willard parent.
The eyeball dissection room remained popular with students — who seemed both squeamish and fascinated by the process — throughout the festival at the River Forest elementary school.
“You think they’d be grossed out, but I think they kind of like being grossed out,” Schaider said with a grin.
Cai, who wants to become a vet, said she enjoys learning about biology and animals. Dissecting the eyeball was “kind of gross, but it’s part of my life being a veterinarian,” she said with a shrug and a smile.
The festival included both a voluntary science fair with more than 70 student projects, and labs and exhibits that focused on the workings of the body. Parent volunteers ran the exhibits and labs, which included pig heart dissection, ultrasound demonstrations, reflex experiments and making lung models.
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Other displays and exhibits looked at the effect of sun on skin, the importance of oral care and the digestive process.
“We have a lot of physician parents, so we have a lot of volunteers,” said Dr. Cathie Overmyer, who co-chaired the event. Of the six moms who run the event, five are doctors. “The reason we’re all involved in this is because we love science, and we want the kids to love it, too.”
Third-grader Sophia Keberlein experimented with floating a boat by using the buoyancy of ping pong balls in lifting a one-pound weight. Her younger sister, kindergartener Magdalena, was excited to participate after seeing Sophia take part the past few years, and she looked at what it took to sink a boat using pennies.
“I really like doing this,” Sophia Keberlein said, “because I’m interested in science and how it works. And I’m good at math.”
“What I like actually the best is that they get to present,” said the girls’ dad, Douglas.
Dr. Dean Godellas, Loyola’s head of surgical oncology, showed three of his children — Helena, 11; William, 10; and Christopher, 8 — the inside of a pig’s heart. He said it’s nice to be able to take advantage of the abundance of physicians in the community by exposing students to the world of science.
Of his four children, Godellas said he hopes one of them chooses a career in medicine.
“But I think it’s things like this that get kids interested in it,” he added.
Caitlin Mullen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.