There will be no energy shortage at the Bartlesville Community Center next week.
For the 11th year, Energy Days will be held in the main BCC ballroom as fifth-grade students from throughout the area are invited to view several exhibits and sharpen their science skills. More than 900 students and 50 teachers are expected to be on hand this year.
Energy Days will unfold from April 29 - May 1. Fifth-grade classes from different schools – including all seven elementary schools within the Bartlesville Public School District – will take part in the event over two-hour periods beginning at 9:30 a.m. each day.
Ten exhibitions will be set up where youngsters can learn about everything from what tools are used to find petroleum, which rocks can hold oil and alternative forms of energy.
During Energy Days, students are able to take part in experiments and learn in an active environment.
“They need to be informed of energy because it's such an important part of our lives,” says Becky Hoover, a former science instructor and the Energy Days coordinator. “Why do we find oil? What are some of the other ideas that we might be able to come up with in energy so that we might be able to supplement oil?
“It's all hands-on science.”
Once the fifth-graders arrive at the Community Center for Energy Days, they will be able to circulate through each of the 10 exhibitions. Volunteers man the booths, many of them with ties to ConocoPhillips, which is one of the sponsors of the event.
Hoover spent 16 years working within the Bartlesville Public School District, both as a teacher and a science specialist. Once she retired, she helped to create Energy Days, which has been a hit for more than a decade. This year, more than 200 volunteers are expected to assist with Energy Days.
The 10 exhibitions at this year's Energy Days event will include Petroleum Scavenger Hunt; Science of the Underground; Tools of the Trade; Oil Meets Water; Petroleum IQ; Petroleum Mix and Match; Rock Lab; Good Vibrations; Alternate Energy; and Hot Spots.
Students will be represented from Bartlesville, Dewey, Nowata, Copan, Skiatook, Bowring, Ramona and Sedan (Kan.). The 11 th Annual Energy Days event sponsors include ConocoPhillips, ChevronPhillips, OERB, AIChE, Zachry, Coffeyville Resources, NEO American Chemical Society, Society of Professional Engineers, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Bechtel Corp., Halliburton, FTS Inc., JTI, David L. Greene Inc., Geophysical Society, Geological Society, and Schlumberger Artificial Lift.
“We want to let students know that science is not just something in a book,” says Hoover. “It exists.”
A volunteer works with area fifth-grade students during last year's Energy Days event at the Bartlesville Community Center. More than 900 students are expected to take part in this year's Energy Days program, which is scheduled from April 29 - May 1 at the BCC.