Photo: Deb Gow Jarrod Luke, a teacher at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, introduces Latash the bald eagle to the audience of more than 700 students.
MARSHALL – The crowd gathered at Southwest Minnesota State University on Tuesday fell silent as they waited to introduce a special guest.
Jarrod Luke, a teacher at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, opened an animal carrier and pulled out Latsch, an 8-year-old bald eagle.
As Latsch spread his wings, Luke answered questions about eagles from area schoolchildren.
“How fast can he fly?” A student asked.
Bald eagles can fly at speeds of more than 25 mph, Luke said — but when they dive, they can reach speeds of up to 100 mph.
The trip to the National Eagle Center was the main presentation at this year’s Science and Nature Conference, hosted by the Southwest Central Service Cooperative. Over 700 area students in grades K-8 came to SMSU for a day of science-related activities. Topics ranged from engineering to learning about animals and the environment.
During his presentation, Luke told the students about the tools eagles use to catch prey. Bald eagles are equipped with strong beaks and talons for catching prey such as fish.
“What are their other devices?” Luke asked.
“their eyes,” A student in the crowd replied.
Luke said an eagle’s keen vision is important for hunting. When Latsch was found near Winona, he was blind in one eye, Luke said. While this meant that Letsch could not survive in the wild, he could be an Eagle Ambassador.
Later at the conference, students had the chance to participate in hands-on classes about everything from robotics to botany. In one class, presenter Sam Janes taught students how to build their own helicopters. Children began cutting and folding paper into shapes that would rotate as they fell in the wind.
“It flew!” One student said after tossing the paper helicopter up and spinning it around.
Next, the class moved on to building helicopters which used rubber bands to bend the helicopter’s blades.
In another session, middle school-aged students took on an engineering challenge: They had 20 minutes to try to build the tallest tower out of plastic drinking straws and tape.
Milroy’s students Eddie Bray and Maddox Eliason began by tying together a long line of straws for height.
“Ours will certainly not prevail for the strongest,” Eliason said. After a while, the tower began to collapse, and Bray and Eliasson folded more straws into an arch to support the base of the tower.
The design had to be partially changed during the challenge to prevent several groups’ towers from collapsing.
“We’re kind of freestyling it,” said Murray County Central student Paige Schuur.
As the group assembled their tower, members added their ideas.
“It’s leaning – we need a support right here,” said MCC student Colton Joens.
Organizers said this year the Science and Nature Conference celebrates its 30th anniversary. The event has grown significantly over time, said Andrea Anderson, student enrichment coordinator at SWWC.
“It started as a Saturday program,” He said.
When SWWC began holding conferences on weekdays, attendance actually increased. Before the Covid pandemic, the conference was seeing participation of more than 1,000 students per year.
A total of 731 students participated in the conference this year.
“We’re starting to get our numbers back,” Anderson said.
