Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Local youth test their brain power
Chris Breedlove | LUCOM Marketing
Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM) hosted for the third year, the local competition of the Brain Bee on Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Center for Medical and Health Sciences on the campus of Liberty University. LUCOM faculty facilitated the event with twelve high school students from around Virginia participating.
Brain Bee, a national neuroscience competition, is specifically designed for high school students to test their anatomical knowledge against competitors both locally and nationally, and for some, internationally. Of the 12 students that competed, a majority were from the Virginia Episcopal School, one from Chatham Hall, and one from Jefferson Forest High school, who also attends Central Virginia Governor’s School for Science and Technology.
Promotion for the local competition was done by Amanda Troy, PhD, associate professor of anatomy, and Katherine Christine, anatomy lab teaching assistant. “It’s a great way to connect our local high school students to the medical school and our medical students to the local community. It’s also important to promote fun, educational opportunities,” said Dr. Troy. “Students can put this in a personal statement for college or even network with colleges at the national competition, if they are the local winner.”
According to Christine, the idea to have a Lynchburg Brain Bee came from Dr. Troy due to her work at Penn State when working on her PhD. “She [Troy] had me come alongside her as co-director since I had connections through teaching in public education for almost ten years in the area. We had the resources as far as anatomy space, brain tissue, and students willing to volunteer so we ran with it. Three years in and going strong. We get better every year.”
Saturday’s competition was comprised of a brief neuro-overview that used several sample brains inside LUCOM’s anatomy lab followed by a written and practical exam and concluded with a Q & A session where contestants received questions from a panel of judges.
LUCOM Graduate Teaching Assistant Michael Cox worked closely with Dr. Troy to help organize the anatomy lab portion of the competition. “For many of these competitors, they may have never seen a cadaver and more specifically, they have never had the opportunity to see and even hold a human brain. While neuroanatomy is a very detailed and difficult area of study, giving these participants a chance to see the anatomy firsthand at this level of the competition has been repetitively commented as one of the more valuable and favorite aspects of the day.”
Cox was able to develop the instructional portion of the competition into “stations” that would cover specific regions of neuroanatomy including surface anatomy, vasculature, basal ganglia, and visual pathway. “As a coordinator, I ensured that the instructional portion ran smoothly to offer the chance for each group of students to learn from each station prior to the practical examination. Following the instructional period, my colleagues and I set up the practical examination portion which included 25 questions regarding the areas of neuroanatomy they had just studied,” he added.“We are providing an educational experience that most of these students would not have otherwise,” said Christine. “Brain Bee allows those outside of LUCOM to experience what we are about – Christ-centered education.”
According to the winner, Andrew Qi, the competition was more challenging than the year before. “This was my second time competing and it went better than expected. I prepared pretty well, I thought. This year there were a lot of smart and prepared competitors,” he said. “The faculty here at LUCOM taught the day’s sessions really well and we were treated very well. I feel really good. I spent some time and it paid off, it’s a very good program.”
Qi received the ultimate prize, a complimentary ticket to compete in the 2020 USA Brain Bee Championship next month at Northeast Ohio Medical School in Rootstown, OH.
“It is a blessing to be a part of the competition – to see how amazingly smart these high school kids are just blows me away each year,” said Christine.
View images from the competition at Facebook.com/LibertyMedicine.