Three Wayne Community College science instructors recently presented at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Community College Association of Biology Instructors (NC3ABI).

Lynn Swafford, Sondi Hoffman, and Amy Cherry Millis represented WCC at the conference, which was held at Alamance Community College. According to Swafford, the statewide meeting has approximately 80 instructors in attendance each year.

Swafford and Hoffman gave a presentation titled “Science Night: Making Connections.” They talked about WCC’s Science Night outreach event held by Honors biology students for children in the community to participate in free hands-on activities. The instructors highlighted the event’s positive impact and shared how others could plan their own similar event.

Hoffman and Millis presented “Harmonize and Sundries for Gen Bio & A & P, oh my!” The instructors spoke on how to increase student engagement in online and hybrid classes through different resources. They discussed ways to meet challenges with lab preparation time, student involvement during labs, and supplemental study sheets.

Swafford currently serves as the NC3ABI’s secretary.

“As secretary, I help plan the meeting, send communications to all NC3ABI members, and organize all documentation,” she explained. Hoffman will assume the role as NC3ABI’s eastern region representative starting in the fall. “This means that she (and WCC) will host a smaller meeting in Fall 2024 for those in the eastern part of the state,” said Swafford.