Students and faculty from the university's STEM departments came together in Herrington Hall for "The Witching Hour" event. RSU students and community members could stop by various stations to learn about RSU's science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs.
Laci Henegar, RSU's STEM coordinator, said this was the first Witching Hour event. She said the genesis of the program came about at the beginning of the school year during the university's freshman orientation.
"We were talking about how a lot of girls in STEM are so spread out on campus that they don't get to be together, to connect," Henegar said. "We wanted to create a social event for them to come and hang out, and hopefully bridge that gap between each different department."
The event fell on Halloween, and many participants came in costume; Henegar was a fighter pilot from "Top Gun." She said she planned the event to coincide with Halloween because it was a way to make the event more fun — besides doubling as a costume party, the occasion allowed departments to tie Halloween themes into their tables.
The nursing program brought a disembodied hand students use to practice hooking up IVs, as well as a life-size mannequin named Juno who talks, coughs and has a pulse. Senior Ashlyn Lundholm said the students brought the equipment to promote the nursing program.
Nursing instructor Mary Utsler, who dressed as a wild-haired mad scientist, said demonstrating what nursing students do helps younger girls see nursing as something they could do in the future.
"We're hoping to have a lot of high school students here this afternoon, and really, they can see what they could be involved with if they were to come to RSU," Utsler said.
Callie Sellers, another senior nursing student, said she was inspired to go into nursing by attending a similar event at Oklahoma State University in middle school.
"We got to go to OSU medical center, and we were able to see cadavers, and we got to see human brains and human lungs," Sellers said. "... Today is a full-circle moment now that I'm fixing to step out into the workforce and be a nurse, and now I'm getting to promote STEM to other young women today."
Alyssa Allen, a cybersecurity major, ran a table with other students where people could try cracking ciphers and cryptography puzzles. Allen said the event was an opportunity to promote RSU CyberCats, the university's cybersecurity competition team.
Sophomore Miranda Lewis said she learned more about CyberCats at the event and was interested in potentially joining. She said she hoped RSU would bring back the event next year.
Allen said she loves to spread the word about cybersecurity to other women and girls.
"A lot of times when you show these kids — especially young girls — that this is possible and you can do this, you see their eyes light up," Allen said. "I had one girl walk away from an event, and she told me, 'I'm going to do cyber, I'm going to go into STEM in some capacity.' ... It's something I wish I would have known that I could do from early on in my childhood."
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