In an effort to complement Agriculture Awareness Week, today will be the first, hopefully annual, Life Sciences Day.

According to Jonathon Phillips, an agriculture and resource economics professor and one of the faculty members helping organize the event, the idea came about as a need for equality among clubs in CALS. There will be a variety of events and booths set up on the Brickyard.

“There was a kind of feeling that the life sciences might not have been as recognized in CALS and we wanted to make sure that they were recognized for the great things they do,” Phillips said.

Although the first year will likely be small, the organizers hope the event will grow.  Kristopher Stuart, a senior in biochemistry, has helped organize the event, according to Phillips.

“Kris took the bull by the horns and really ran with it,” Phillips said.  “He’s been the main driving force behind keeping this running.”

Stuart said he thought the idea was a good one, so he decided to help plan out.

“I thought it was a good idea.  There’s really not much advertisement for life sciences on campus,” Stuart said.  “There’s the occasional club or two that comes out to the Brickyard, but they’re few and far between.”

Stuart said this year there’s going to be several interesting exhibits set up on the Brickyard.

“One of the most interesting things we’re going to have is going to be between 12:25 and 1:15 p.m.,” Stuart said.  “We’re going to have a student here taking belly button samples for a project for the Natural Science Museum.  Basically we’re going to take samples from willing people’s bellybuttons and culture them to show what grows in people’s bellybuttons.”

According to Phillips and Stuart, there will also be a small scale tractor.

“The tractor is a little bit bigger than a lawn mower,” Stuart said.  “I haven’t actually seen it before, so I’m excited to see it.”

According to Phillips, the idea for Life Sciences Day wasn’t really created, it created itself.

“The idea is it’s going to show off things students and departments are doing on this campus,” Phillips said. “It kind of created itself. I’m sure there was someone who stood up and said ‘Hey, let’s do this.'”

In the future both Stuart and Phillips hope that Life Sciences Day will be run by a club instead of run by the faculty.

“We’re planning on getting one club involved and be the hosts,” Stuart said.  “Kind of like how Alpha Zeta runs Agriculture Awareness week, we hope a club dedicated to it will take on Life Sciences day and roll with it and make it blossom into something big.”

There’s a possibility and hope that Life Sciences Day will grow to where it is equal to Agriculture Awareness week and will last a week, according to Stuart.

“I would love to see it grow into something like a week, I think with enough support that would be really possible,” Stuart said.  “Maybe not next year, maybe event two years from now.  

Although Life Sciences Day was originally planned for March 30, Stuart said they chose to change the date at the last minute.

“March 30 was 48 degrees and pouring rain,” Stuart said.  “Hopefully everything we’ve been planning for and working for since January will work out.  We’re hoping for a good turnout and hopefully show everyone’s interest in life science.”