On Thursday, May 2, Ashley Armstrong, PhD, a science education specialist from the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), visited Sanborn Central to speak to all the students about the work they do at the facility. She spoke to four different age groups, and at the start of each session, she described the layout and location of the laboratory. It is located in Lead, and for 125 years was the Homestake Gold Mine. It is made up of 370 miles of tunnels, but they only use about 12 miles for the science work they do. All kinds of sciences are being studied in the lab, including engineering, physics, microbiology, astrophysics and geology, just to name the most common ones.

The Federal Department of Energy funds a large portion of the work done in the lab, but the facility is owned by the State of South Dakota. There are 200 employees who work at the lab or for the lab, and there are many scientists and engineers who use the lab space on contract. It takes close to 12 minutes in the elevator to get to the lab, which is about a mile underground. One point Armstrong focused on with each group was the reason why the lab is so far down in the earth and is so sought after for lab space is because it is so easy to keep clean without contact from the sun. It is protected from all the dust created on the surface of the earth. 

After she went over the general information about SURF, Amstrong spoke on specific topics to each of the four age groups.

…Read about and see pictures of the presentations in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!

The spring concerts for both Sanborn Central and Woonsocket were performed last week in the schools’ respective gyms. Sanborn Central started with their performance on Tuesday, April 30, and Woonsocket followed with their concert on Thursday, May 2. Both gyms were full of family and friends ready to enjoy an uplifting program from students in all age groups.

On Tuesday, the fifth-sixth grade band started the show, playing “Hi-Way 99” and “Rock This Band.” They were followed by the fifth-ninth grade band playing “Star Wars (Main Theme)” to satisfy band teacher Mrs. Jennifer Karlen’s obsession with all the “Star Wars” films. To finish the band portion of the concert, the seventh-ninth grade band played “Gypsy Dance” and “Fog on the River.” 

On Thursday, the Woonsocket fifth-sixth grade band kicked off the concert with their own performance of the pieces “Rock this Band” and “Star Wars (Main Theme).” During the “Star Wars” piece at both schools, Mrs. Karlen conducted using a mini, glowing lightsaber to extend the theme. The seventh-12th grade band followed, playing three songs, “The Greatest Showman Medley,” “The Avengers (Main Theme),” and “Phantom of the Opera Medley.” To wrap up their band section of the concert, the seventh-12th grade jazz ensemble played “El Taco Rocko,” featuring Oscar Anderson on trumpet and Chase Linn on bari saxophone, performing their own originally composed solos within the song. 

For the choral section of the performances at both Sanborn Central and Woonsocket, the fourth-grade students played “Hot Cross Buns” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on recorders. Choir instructor, Mrs. Jenny Easton, directed the Sanborn Central fourth graders, and music students Sage Trieb and Kyla Terkildsen led the Woonsocket fourth graders during their performances. The sixth-12th grade students at Sanborn Central and the seventh-12th grade choir at Woonsocket sang “Sisi ni moja (We Are One)” and “What About Us.” 

The students in grades three-five at Sanborn Central and three-six in Woonsocket continued their respective concerts with their own performances of two songs, “Star of the County Down” and “Touch the Sky.” The PreK through second graders at both schools finished the evenings with three songs. They started with the old classic, “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” and they followed that with “Play Another Happy Song.” They ended with a rendition of Pharrell Williams’ popular hit, “Happy,” to make sure everyone left with a smile for spring and nicer weather to come.

…See pictures in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!