Photo: SUSAN TUSA/Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
By Lori Higgins
Brittany Butler is about six years shy of being the target age for a new sophisticated science lab in Farmington Hills that will be open to students throughout the region. But that didn't stop her from pushing to be the first to use the center.
"I knew it was going to be fun," said Brittany, 5, a kindergartner at Steppingstone School for Gifted Education in Farmington Hills.
Wearing green goggles and assisted by Dr. Reef Morse, a physical biochemist, Brittany got the first taste of what it's like to use the spectrometer at the Steppingstone Magnetic Resonance Training Center.
The center -- more than a year in the making -- is to pilot three weeklong, free summer sessions for middle school, high school and junior college students in metro Detroit. The center is particularly trying to reach students in Detroit.
The idea, said Patty Giorgio, director of development at Steppingstone, is to heed the call for more science education.
She said students rarely see what it's like to work in an advanced lab, and having the used spectrometer -- which retails for more than $100,000 new -- makes this lab unique.
"No other elementary or middle school has a spectrometer," Giorgio said.
The spectrometer, which Morse said measures the interaction between radiation and matter, is to be used to conduct experiments.
The summer sessions are free because the school received a number of donations.
Morse, who teaches computers and science at Steppingstone and who taught for about 30 years in a university setting, is to direct the center.
The school plans to continue to seek donations, Giorgio said, because "long-term, we can't sustain the lab for free."
Brittany's parents -- Teressa and Cedric Butler of Canton -- won an auction earlier this year that allowed her to be the first student to use the lab.
Brittany already has plans to become a scientist. She said she wants to learn about bugs and study aliens. The latter, though, may require some travel.
"They only live on Mars," she said.
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