By Brittany Mendez, news correspondent
Students from universities around the city attended College Night at the Boston Museum of Science on Friday, an annual event that allows students to explore the museum for free.
College Night grants students free admission to all permanent and temporary exhibits which normally cost $28 dollars per person. There were opportunities for students to win prizes and passes to return to the museum. Students were also able to purchase add-on tickets to tour the butterfly garden or planetarium or view a 4-D or IMAX movie for $6 each.
“I would have tried to go if it was cheap, but it was really fun since it was free,”said Samantha Marchesi, a second-year graphic design major at Northeastern. “I do know that museum is pretty expensive to get in otherwise, and we were meaning to go, so this was a good time to finally do it.”
College Night began at 5 p.m., but students were lined up earlier to get a seat on one of the 10 Duck Boat tours that the museum offered for free. At the entrance, museum staff gave out “College Night” pins with an image of an astronaut as an entrance pass to students with a college ID.
Students learned about the event from a Facebook page, as well as from friends and professors.
“I heard about it from one of my teachers; I was here last Friday and she told us about it so we thought it would be a fun thing to try,” said Annabel Devault, a first-year chemistry major at Northeastern.
Most of the exhibits were interactive and allowed students to learn through competing in games. At the Hall of Human Life, attendees put on wristbands and scanned students at stations that revealed how some of their biological information compared to other museum-goers. While some were simple surveys about allergies, others tested balance and facial recognition.
The Science in the Park exhibit was set up like a playground with swings, a giant seesaw and other equipment. Students played while learning about the physics behind their fun.
“I had so much fun in the playground part because it was the most hands-on and interactive part of the museum,” Arielle Greenspan, a Northeastern second-year theater and communications major. “Obviously the museum is geared towards children, but it makes learning so much fun.”
The museum also featured a variety of live presentations conducted by staff. One staff member dissected a goat eye and another presented live animals. The live animal show focused on how snakes are commonly feared animals, but pose the same threat as most conventional pets. The staff member presented the audience with a legless lizard, a milk snake and a boa.
The Space: An Out-of-Gravity Experience temporary exhibit allowed students to experience space-like conditions on Earth. The exhibit featured a model room of the International Space Station, with rotating walls to give its crew a near-realistic space experience.
Also popular among students was the Theater of Electricity. The presenter fired up the air-insulated Van de Graaff generator which began the show with continuous streaks of lightning. A portion of the show was dedicated to lightning safety and a brief history of the machines they used. The show concluded with the Ghostbusters theme song generated by the changes in voltage from the generator.
“I would definitely recommend the event,” Marchesi said. “College students do appreciate free events like that and other museums I think should do something similar.”
