Post by Sara Moreno, undergraduate NW Noggin volunteer from Portland State University

Noggin at the OHSU OMSI Brain Fair! LEARN MORE: Bringing BRAINS to Brain Fair 🙂

I’m an undergraduate in Psychology at Portland State University, and I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer at several NW Noggin events over the past few years. It always amazes me to see how much of an impact they have on everyone.

STEAM Night! LEARN MORE: STEAM Ahead @ Ionotropic Irvington

It’s wonderful to interact with diverse communities because not only do I get to share my knowledge, but I also hear many new perspectives. It’s definitely a win-win situation!

NW Noggin at Providence BRAIN WATCH, with students from Fort Vancouver High School. LEARN MORE: What is brain surgery like?

MacLaren

It’s also why I always love going to places like the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility. The young people there are so eager to learn and seem genuinely excited to participate! I personally enjoy making the pipe cleaner neurons together because it gives me a chance to sit down with them and hear their stories.

LEARN MORE: All is in motion, is growing, is you

This time around, I had a particularly insightful conversation about environmental effects and brain plasticity. The young man I spoke with told me how he had grown up around violence and poverty before ending up at MacLaren. During his stay he took the initiative to improve his circumstances by enrolling in a nursing program.

He repeatedly expressed how having hands on experience with the brains and interacting with other people in health-related fields made him even more excited about continuing his education. That alone was enough to make my day!

LEARN MORE: Corrections, Bias & Brains

LEARN MORE: All is in motion, is growing, is you

LEARN MORE: Myelinating @ MacLaren!

BioGift

This was my first time visiting BioGift, a Portland-based body donation organization, and I was completely blown away by all the extraordinary work being done there! Andrew did a wonderful job explaining how BioGift receives and prepares bodies for biomedical research and for training of future surgeons. He was open and transparent with all questions asked.

My favorite part was seeing the newest addition to our brain collection! I’ve interacted with several brains over the years thanks to NW Noggin, but I’ve never had the privilege of observing one that wasn’t yet completely fixed.

It was interesting to see how much of a difference the texture makes in its appearance. I also found it incredible that a head can be severed with only a scalpel in under a minute by cutting in between the cervical vertebrae!