By Morgan Wolfe
2/19/18
We’re almost halfway through the semester, but things are just starting to heat up for the food science club this spring. Just right around the corner on April 7 will be the all-university open house. This year, the food science club will be hosting numerous interactive stations for guests to learn, engage and participate in. For starters, our food science club will be inviting visitors to stop by Call Hall 156 to partake in a sensory taste test. Those who complete the test will receive a raffle ticket and be entered to win for a prize.
Other agenda items include a product development station, a recruitment station and many fun experiments for kids and families to perform together. This year we will host our classic corn starch slime project as well as a germ experiment using hand sanitizer and UV light. The day will be a fun time for visitors to branch off an explore the many areas of food science.
Another exciting event coming up for the food science club is the College Bowl Regional Competition. The event will take place in Columbia, Missouri on April 13-14. Our food science team has eight students competing this year: Nathaniel Brown, Ziyi Linghu, Yuda Ou, Mostafa Taghvaei, Bade Tonyali, Priyamuada Thorakkattu, Bennett Uhl and Wei Wu.
The questions relate to food science trivia including topics such as food science and technology, food processing, food law and more. Our group will compete against six or seven other universities in the region, and the winning teams will go on to compete in the Annual Meeting. All finalists receive a $100 travel grant. The national champion earns a $1000 award, and the runner-up a $750 award. “Yuda and I are coaching the team together,” Mostafa Taghvaei noted. “Our hope is to encourage students to learn more about Food Science during preparation for this fun competition.” The team meets weekly to practice with Quiz Bowl-type questions. Team member, Bennett Uhl commented, “I am really looking forward to representing K-State at a contest for knowledge of food and food science.” The team will continue to work hard to prepare for the competition in the upcoming weeks, and we look forward to see how far they will make it in the competition. Good luck students!