Community Events |
BioJam 2020-2022 Community Engagements
A central part of the BioJam teen experience is participating and designing community engagement activities based on learning at camp. Read about the incredible activities BioJam teens have organized below.
March 2021
Grow by Ginko Magazine Feature
BioJam teens contributed original artwork, spoken word, poetry, and prose to Ginko Biowork's Grow Magazine to illustrate their experience of the COVID-19 pandemic.
n addition to being published in the magazine, these materials will be included in a toolkit for the national Concentric By Ginkgo Bioworks COVID19 pool testing platform. The BioJam teens' stories will assist in the vaccination effort as they serve as classrooms discussion prompts while a subset of students are being vaccinated at school. |
January- February 2021
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Conference
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Conference
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BioJam Camp Xinampa Speaks Webinar
February 27th, 2021, 5-6 pm. zoom link: http://bit.ly/xinampaSpeaks
BioJam teens will kick off a webinar series hosted by Xinampa, a Salinas Community Biolab. What does biomaking look like from a teen perspective? How can teens shape conversations on the future of biotech and sustainability design in Monterey County and beyond? Come hear BioJam teens share their ideas and perspectives in this first in a series of Xinampa discussions about community biolabs. |
November 2020 |
BioJam Cookbook Fundraiser for Esselen Tribe of Monterey County
Fieldworker Mask Distribution: Sewn masks from SF Opera Costume Department
(November, 28, 2020)
The BioJam teens are designing a distribution effort to give 397 sewn face masks from the SF Opera to fieldworkers in the Salinas area. They will also be distributing 400 Kn95 masks donated to Xinampa.Bio. Distribution date: September 19th prior to field worker lunchtime. Below are the teen designed tags to accompany the masks. Languages: English, Spanish, Triqui, and Zapoteco. This effort was a quick two week turn around from design to distribution. Distribution team: Jacky Chavez, Ana Guerrero-Campos, Emily Takara, Trisha Sathish, and Izabella Tejada.
Design team: Addie Fey, Mele Haile, Anne Hu, and Trisha Sathish,
Triqui translation by Flora Celestino De Jesús, 11th grader from Greenfield High School, CA.
Zapoteco translation by Elvia García, from King City High School, CA.
Design team: Addie Fey, Mele Haile, Anne Hu, and Trisha Sathish,
Triqui translation by Flora Celestino De Jesús, 11th grader from Greenfield High School, CA.
Zapoteco translation by Elvia García, from King City High School, CA.
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August 2020
Holding the Moment/ Impact of COVID-19
What might represent your self care practices? The impact of COVID19 in your community? Your cultural/family health practices? Share drawings, collages and descriptions with us using this mask template and photograph and share on Instagram using #biojamcampmasks
From a Distance, a collaborative art work by BioJam teens selected to be exhibited in the Norman Y. Mineta International San José Airport/ Holding the Moment: 2-D Work Exhibition. BioJam Camp participants used the same paper forms which they used to grow conceptual mycelium PPE face masks in. They decorated these sheets with personal stories that serve as prompts prompts to others to reflect on their own self care routines and their community and cultural science/health knowledge and practices. After this project, the BioJam Camp teens will be imagining their own community engagement projects from scratch and sharing them on online platforms. BioJamCamp Instagram |
Above: a 360 video of the BioJam teen art installation at the San Jose International Airport. 1/11/21-2/11/21. (note, Click on screen and rotate to see 360).
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Above: Art mask reflections by BioJam teens and by designers at the San Francisco Opera Costume Department.
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BioJam 2019-2020 Community Engagements
SEPTEMBER 2019
Biomaterial Origami Cranes/ JTown ArtWalk, Japantown, San Jose, CA
Pop-up Biocraft Workshop led by artist Corinne Takara with support from BioJam teens
JTown ArtWalk September 20th, 2019. 6:00 - 9:00 PM in front of JT Express, Japantown, San Jose, CA. This free pop-up workshop blends a traditional cultural craft with the biomaterials of bacterial cellulose and agar bioplastic. Participants are invited to sketch several design ideas and then make an origami crane and decorate it with biomaterials. The project was inspired by Artist Christian Marianciuc and his 1000 crane project and aims to engage the public in conversations centered on biomaterials, biodesign and increase familiarity with organisms that will help us move beyond petroleum based plastics. event photos Outcome: 25 active participants and 30 passive participants. |
OCTOBER 2019
Biomaterial Shadow Puppets, Japantown Halloween, San Jose , CA
October 31st, 2019. 4:30-7:30 PM in the empty lot next to JT Express, Japantown, San Jose.
Pop-Up biomaterial craft workshop led by artist Corinne Takara with support from BioJam teens. Come make your own Halloween shadow puppet that casts colorful spooky shadows on the walls! Might you make a kitsune seven tailed fox? A kasa-obake umbrella monster? Or a some other Yōkai? Grow or shrink your shadow with a sliding LED light attachment to your puppet post. When you leave our activity table, your playful creation will illuminate your night adventures in Japantown. Sheets of kanten agar bioplastics will be used as translucent color accents, and we will be using locally sourced dried mustard plant twigs as our puppet posts, incorporating biomaterials and sustainability design into this craft. Outcome: 52 active participants and 150 passive participants. Event photos |
NOVEMBER 2019
Mighty Mealworms, Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, CA
Date: November 9th, 2019, 11 AM to 3 PM
Come join us in a BioJam teen-designed workshop that exploring mealworms as plastic eaters. We will have mealworms on hand eating polystyrene plastic. Design a plastic monster that represents a monster from a cultural mythology. Learn about the greatest plastic challenge in that particular culture or country. What sustainability systems solutions do you imagine might be explored with mealworms, or their plastic eating gut bacteria?
Time lapse video of mealworms eating plastic created by BioJam teen.
Outcome: 30 active participants. 30 passive participants (parents and adults). Event photos
Prompt card sheet 1 and Prompt card sheet 2 Care for mealworms sheet, Might Mealworms Activity Sheet, Mighty Mealworms (poster)
DECEMBER 2019
MycoQuilts, Mycelium Grown Assemblies, a BioJam art installation exploring biology, community, and culture
Exhibit dates: December 2nd to December 20th, 2019
Reception: 4-5 PM, December 15th, 2019 Stanford Department of Bioengineering, Stanford, CA The MycoQuilts project blends biology and art in an exploration that celebrates self expression, community, and culture. It is a biofabrication experiment that highlights opportunities to incorporate a range of traditional tooling into new pathways for grown assemblies that leverage locally sourced materials. This journey is part of the discussion asking how might we broaden civic engagement and community connections to biodesign conversations through people’s own creativity and culture. Creative biomaking activities like MycoQuilts are opportunities to explore cultural intersections as a pathway to connect biotechnology to all people. Reception postcard and display posters. |
JANUARY 2020
Mealworm Chefs, BioTinkering Lab, Tech Interactive, San Jose, CA
January 18th, 1-4 PM, the BioTinkering Lab at the San Jose Tech Interactive, San Jose, CA.
Mealworm Chefs: Want to be a mealworm chef? Did you know they can eat plastic and styrofoam? Design and make a tasty mealworm meal to learn how they can help reduce the impact of plastics on the environment. Biodesign Studio, Upper Level.
Time lapse video of mealworms eating plastic created by BioJam teen.
TikTok video from event.
Mealworm Chef Facts (poster)
Mealworm Chefs Pamphlet
Mighty Mealworms Info sheet
Insects in Cuisines
Participant survey (link coming soon)
Mealworm Chefs: Want to be a mealworm chef? Did you know they can eat plastic and styrofoam? Design and make a tasty mealworm meal to learn how they can help reduce the impact of plastics on the environment. Biodesign Studio, Upper Level.
Time lapse video of mealworms eating plastic created by BioJam teen.
TikTok video from event.
Mealworm Chef Facts (poster)
Mealworm Chefs Pamphlet
Mighty Mealworms Info sheet
Insects in Cuisines
Participant survey (link coming soon)
FEBRUARY 2020
Poster Presentation at Construct3D Conference, Rice University, Houston, Texas.
February 13th-16th, 2020.
MycoQuilts, Mycelium Grown Assemblies poster presentation at Construct 3D Conference. The BioJam teens won First Place in the Student Poster Session among a field of university student teams. They were the only high school team participating. (Photos from the event). |
MARCH 2020
March 7th, 2020.
Youth Climate Action Summit, Tech Interactive, San Jose, CA BioJam teens will lead two 45 minute design sprint workshops exploring mealworms as pastivores in industrial and home settings. Certain gut bacteria enable mealworms to digest plastics: how might we design this special ability into sustainable products and systems for household, environmental, and industrial settings? Come join the BioJam teens as we guide you through a design sprint, imagining a near sustainable future where mealworms are part of the solution to biodegrading existing plastic waste. |