Henrietta Lacks Museum

This winter, 9^th grade Honors Biology students studied the story of Henrietta Lacks, a woman who unknowingly donated the first human cells that were able to grow in cell culture in the 1950’s. Students read excerpts from Rebecca Skloot’s best-selling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and viewed the 1998 BBC documentary, The Way of All Flesh, to learn about Henrietta Lacks and her impact on the scientific and medical communities in the twentieth century. The students participated in debates surrounding the bioethical issues related to the preservation of Henrietta’s story and did their own research to learn about her family, her impact, and her legacy. To conclude this unit, students worked as a class to create a museum to teach the Upper School community about Henrietta’s story and share all that they had learned.

Weather Balloon Launch

NCCS students looked into the sky as their weather balloon floated up and away 20 miles into the stratosphere. On Feb. 22, second-graders launched the giant white balloon with the help of a scientist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The launch was part of their science unit on the properties of air and weather. “The students got to see the job of a scientist and how it’s applicable to real life,” said Hannah James, Lower School Science Assistant, who organized the demonstration. James invited Lance Roth, a meteorologist and science technician for NOAA who has worked in Greenland, the South Pole and American Samoa, to her classroom to teach the children about how thousands of weather balloons are regularly launched around the world to track temperature, air pressure, humidity and wind. Although the radiosonde attached to the school’s weather balloon did not transmit information back to the school, it did have a note attached asking for its finder to contact the students upon its descent. They’re hoping the parachute doesn’t land in the ocean and they’ll get a call soon. “We believe in offering students opportunities to apply the concepts that they are learning in the classroom to the real world, so they can see and experience the concepts in action. The lessons are much more powerful that way,” said Head of Lower School Kathleen Holz. - by Brooke Springer