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Cell Biology Day at Anschutz “Do all cells have the same organelles?” asked an inquisitive 7th grade student at the first ever ‘Cell Biology Day at Anschutz’ outreach event on April 15. “How do organelles move around the cell?” inquired her classmate. “And how does DAPI stain specifically make the nucleus blue and not the rest of the cell?” These are just a few of the amazing questions the very enthusiastic middle school students from Slavens School asked graduate students during this exciting, inaugural outreach day made possible by generous support from ASCB. On April 15, 2016 the Cell, Stem Cell, and Development (CSD) Graduate Program welcomed 22 middle school students to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to experience real scientists at work. During this day of cell biology exploration, I initially introduced the students to the major cell organelles and showed them real micrographs and fluorescent images of cellular organelles that they had previously learned about in textbooks. I was amazed at the numerous, excellent questions that the students asked about each topic I introduced! After the introduction presentation, the students split up into groups of five to interact directly with a current PhD student. CSD graduate students Colby Fees, Tanya Brown, Veronica Fregoso, Anthony Junker, Jason Dinella, and Jayne Aiken brought small groups of the middle school students into their labs to show them biology lab techniques and large equipment such as centrifuges and confocal microscopes. We then lead them through interactive activities, including having the students image live cells to view cellular organelles. After the lab tours, the student groups came back together to enjoy a pizza lunch with graduate students who answered questions about their current research and what it is like to work in the biology field. After lunch, the students made model cells out of Jell-O and candy. The students had to guess which candies represented which organelles. When asked, “What do you guys think the large, blue gumballs represent?” The students collectively shouted, “Nucleus!” And what about the Twizzlers? “Microtubules!” Overall, this was a fun and exciting event that got the both the middle school students and the graduate students enthused about biology! — by Jayne Aiken