Children got a chance to experience science at Wilkes University. Passport to Science was held 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct.19, at the Lawrence and Sally Cohen Science Center.

Students from the Wilkes-Barre community were invited to get a tour of the new science center at Wilkes University. Along with tours, they also had experience of doing labs.

The children did candy chrom, an experiment involving M&M’s and Skittles containing candies of various colors as well as Pennsylvania Wildflower labs, and dissected pellets. Science Jeopardy was also played, where the children answered science questions. The environmental, biology and chemistry departments planned the labs for the guests.

Felicia Snyder, sophomore pharmacy student, took part of the event and made the science jeopardy game.

“The purpose of the event was to invite the public to experience the new science center,” Snyder said. “All of the kids were involved, especially in Science Jeopardy. If they did not know the answer, it interested them because the kids wanted to know why it was that answer.”

Another pharmacy student, Shyanne Kleintop, also helped in the event. She was the go-to person if there was an emergency and if people needed help.

“Passport to Science introduced the community to the new science center,” Kleintop said. “This event gave children hands-on experience in the laboratory.”

She said that the children had fun and she would volunteer if they had another event like this again.

Snyder said that 350 people attended this event — 250 people preregistered and 100 walk-ins. She said this event can give an idea for kids to have a future in the science area.

In May, the Science Department will sponsor Adventures in Science. They invite area middle schools to Wilkes University for the day. Students would come and do experiments all day and experience a college science lab. Students from the science department will volunteer to help at this event.

For more information on the new science center visit http://www.wilkes.edu.