The highly popular and acclaimed Gene-ius Day program is the subject of a
recent laudatory article on the UH Foundation website that describes how the original program has expanded into three complementary outreach efforts that are reaching and teaching more kids than ever before! The first Gene-ius Days were school field trips that taught topics on genetics and agriculture through hands-on learning experiences. Then the program’s founder, Interim Associate Dean Ania Wieczorek, envisioned a series of Saturday classes that could offer a larger array of subjects and reach more underprivileged students, and Saturday Gene-iuses was born. For the last two years, a third program has offered students the chance to take classes over the summer and has also expanded the age range of its participants: now there are classes for all grade levels through high school! Thousands of participants have now been able to enjoy and learn in these classes, bringing them to a greater appreciation of science and the natural world. Ania is quoted in the article: “I wake up each morning and hope that kids will have an unbelievable WOW moment. When they say, ‘I want to be a scientist,’ I know we were successful.”