It’s called UO Kids on Campus Day, but the adults aren’t just along for the ride.

The annual event enables University of Oregon employees to spend a day on the Eugene campus with the children in their lives. Kids get a glimpse into the working world while parents and other guardians get quality time with their families — and more.

Take Chelsie Goucher and Atticus, 10, for example. During the April 24 event, Atticus created a superhero mask at a table in the Erb Memorial Union, aiding a PhD student researcher, Luda Gogolushko, with her project on superheroes. Meanwhile, Goucher, a program coordinator in the College of Arts and Sciences, noted UO offerings such as theater and art exhibits that enhance her life as an employee.

Goucher wants Atticus to get a flavor for higher education but also important to her are workforce enrichment opportunities such as UO Kids on Campus Day. “It’s super important to engage the employees on campus,” Goucher said. “We’re both benefitting.”

The event drew more than 200 kids and adults for a day of activities meant to ignite curiosity, foster creativity and enable kids to discover interests while having fun. Open to youth in grades 4 through 8, or roughly ages 9 to 13, the event was facilitated by Human Resources with help from 20-plus campus partners hosting events to encourage youth to stay curious about the world around them and experience higher education.

Education, in fact, was a recurring theme among the day’s participants — both kids and adults.

Morie Conteh, a custodian in Campus Planning and Facilities Management, hoped the day would inspire in his son, Tejan, an “excitement” for college. While the two ate a lunch of pizza, chicken and rice in Carson Hall, the middle schooler praised the beauty of the Eugene campus while his dad focused on academics.

“You study hard and get good grades,” Conteh said, “and you will be here.”

In the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, 14-year-old Rose Chunn got a different taste of education — namely, the wonders of 3D printing.

Paul Dalton, the Bradshaw and Holzapfel Research Professor in Transformational Science and Mathematics, ran two commercial 3D printers to the amusement of Chunn and other kids.

Dalton and his team had a major bioengineering breakthrough recently, incorporating their novel 3D printing technique in a partnership with the French personal care company L’Oréal to develop an artificial skin that more accurately mimics real human skin. On this day, though, the only products emerging from the printers were colorful puzzles, butterflies and octopuses — “we’re basically making toys today,” Dalton said, smiling. 

UO Kids on Campus Day is a worthwhile endeavor, Dalton said, if even a handful of the youth come away with a desire to pursue science. He might have just such a candidate in Chunn, who was impressed with the research facility that fast tracks scientific discoveries into life-changing innovations.

“It’d be really cool to work in a lab,” Chunn said. “You don’t get bored. There’s so much you can do.”

At the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Ashley Walker, an associate professor of human physiology, and her daughter, Kara, 10, took a crash course in animal sculpting with museum educator Gabrielle Miller. The activity was an introduction to “netsuke” — miniature Japanese sculpture, examples of which are part of the museum’s collection.

While Kara crafted a coiled snake that fit comfortably in the palm of her hand, Ashley enjoyed the chance, she said, “to show her more of where I work and have some down time together.”

“Down time” was also available at the Student Recreation Center, where Vince Quesada and his family took a yoga class that had them down on mats and then standing tall, reaching for the sky.

Quesada is an MRI technologist in the Lewis Center for Neuroimaging. His daughter, Olivia, 12, who has attention deficit disorder, is interested in her dad’s work with brain imaging; from the yoga class, she also picked up breathing tips for settling her own mind — intentional breathing “really helps my brain,” she said.

Olivia wasn’t the only one to learn something, though. Quesada said the annual UO Kids on Campus Day has helped him get to know the Eugene campus much better. And his wife, Chelsea, said the academic activities in fields such as volcanology appeal to kids of all ages.

“It’s really cool that they open up different departments not just for her, but for us,” Chelsea said. “We get an education, too.”

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