Hundreds of Sharakah high school students explore the wonders of science at AUS

American University of Sharjah (AUS) has recently held its “Sharakah Science Festival 2017,” to highlight the world of science and demonstrate how it applies to our everyday lives. The day-long event saw more than 300 high school students and teachers from 13 Sharakah partner schools visit the university to better their understating of how science is applied in the fields of medicine, modern chemistry, and environmental science.

Coordinated by the Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences (BCE) at the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and the Office of Enrollment Management (OEM) at AUS, the festival was entitled “Exploring the Wonders of Science.”

The opening ceremony was addressed by Ali Shuhaimy, Executive Director of OEM, who welcomed the students and the school officials to AUS and to the event:

“We are very happy to have you here today. We, at AUS, do our best to connect and engage with schools across the country. Our popular Sharakah program is part of that engagement. Through this program we strengthen the process of communication between the schools and ourselves, train teachers, organize a wide variety of events, help teachers prepare students for university life, as well as advise students on possible career options and related degree programs to pursue at university, among other things.”

Dr. Mahmoud Anabtawi, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), also welcomed the students to the festival. He said:

“It is always a pleasure for us to interact with students from schools across the country. Events such as these are very important to us. Most of our Sharakah events, such as MathFest and Funtastic FZX, are related to science subjects. They reiterate our university’s focus on science, research and innovation. At AUS we are committed to preparing our students to become leaders in their fields. We are very proud that Her Excellency Sara Al Amiri, the UAE’s Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, is an AUS alumna.”

The event included interactive stage shows, live displays, hands-on activities and demonstrations to present the diverse applications of biology, chemistry and environmental science. Dr. Fuad Tarabah, the Director of Training, Research and Development at the Dubai Forensics Science and Criminology Department was also present on the occasion and introduced students to the importance of science in industry during an interactive presentation.

Sharakah high school students also had the opportunity to compete in a poster, video and demonstration project competition to demonstrate a biological, chemical and environmental science phenomenon or application.

First place in the poster competition went to Dawha School for its project entitled “Testing the relationship between eye color and sight.” Al Mawakeb School won first place in the video competition for its project “pH and Food,”while Philadelphia School won top honors in the the Demonstration Project Competition for its project “Electrical Car.”

Participating Sharakah schools included Sharjah American International School- Dubai, Al Mawakeb School – Garhoud- Dubai, Al Mawakeb School – Barsha- Dubai, MADAR International School - Al Ain, Al Maarifa International School- Sharjah, Al Shola Private School – Boys- Sharjah,  Al Shola Private School – Girls- Sharjah, Dubai International School, Rawafed School- Abu Dhabi,  Philadelphia School- Dubai, International Community School- Abu Dhabi,  Dawha School- Sharjah, Manarat Al Sharjah- Sharjah.

Sharakah is a partnership program between AUS and select high schools initiated by the Office of Enrollment Management to partner with certain schools selected to engage with the university's strategic initiative to create a platform for cooperation in various academic and non-academic areas. These include the engagement of teachers and students through training sessions, workshops, as well as cultural, social and sporting activities.