The Boys and Girls Club Big Brothers Duggan

A group of HPI students based out of the University of Alberta, in Edmonton had the opportunity to give a presentation to a group of (hopefully!) budding parasitologists at the Boys and Girls Club Big Brothers Duggan on Thursday, July 19^th, 2018. This was followed by a trip to the McCauley club on August 9^th 2018.

Jacob Hambrook, Danielle Barry, Madeleine Wiebe and myself spent these afternoons talking about many different parasites and their unique life histories. The group of middle-school aged children was fascinated, and at times grossed out, by all the different parasites. After learning about Onchoceriasis, there was a collective concern that all parasites might live in one’s eyes but we assured them that this is not the case. Additionally, several kids boisterously asserted that they would be supervising their parents’ cooking to ensure everything was up to par in terms of food safety, to avoid getting “so many worms”. The groups had fantastic questions and answers relating to the varied parasitic life histories.

After the presentation, the kids could come and observe some parasites up close in the sample jars we brought. Some of them crowded the table in fascination while others observed from afar. The highlights were a big tapeworm that fills its jar and a botfly that emerged from its mouse host. It was really inspiring to teach these young minds about this aspect of biology and to see their genuine interest in parasitology.

Thank you to Jacob Hambrook for organizing this great event and preparing the slideshow and a thank you to Dr. Al Shostak for providing the samples.