Earlier this year, our team once again ran a mock dig through Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) Chicago titled “Can You Dig It? Fossil Finding 101”, this time with help from postdoc Jeff from the Tsegai Lab.

The students and post-docs worked extra hard this year to dismantle the cart necessary for transporting the supplies so that it would fit in their vehicle. We use several bags of mulch to mimic soil (with less cleanup and weight), collapsible dog pools, 5 gallon buckets, tarps, gloves, sand shovels and dust pans, informative binders and maps, and an assortment of 3D printed, clay, laminated, and plastic fossil replicas. We also hand out 3D printed fossil vertebra keychains as participation gifts.

As mentioned in an earlier post, our team was able to catch Zeray’s presentation of “Lucy’s children and human origins” at the Lucy 50th Anniversary Symposium.

The students enjoyed digging in the mock pit and learned how field sites are chosen and how to form the scientific narrative from the environmental clues and fossil discoveries.

We’ve learned the future of EYH Chicago is not certain due to sponsorship, so we aren’t sure the program will run in 2025. At the very least, we hope our efforts have helped inspire local area middle school girls to feel excited and empowered to pursue a STEM education and career!