Engaging Local Middle Schoolers at Brain Education Day 2026

On March 29, 2026, 60 Yale scientists came together to orchestrate activities around the brain for about 90 middle school students from the greater New Haven area. Brain Education Day is an annual highlight for many of the participants, and for the volunteers as well. The event is a close collaboration between Yale Pathways to Science, which is bringing middle schoolers to Yale’s medical campus, and the neuroscience graduate program INP (Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program), which is leading the activities and recruiting volunteers. This year’s INP leaders were Maddie Albanese, Leah Harmon, Kamila Kemenyfy-Rojas, Melissa Meng, Tyler Nelson, and Ashley Owens.

For many, Brain Education Day is a staple outreach event of INP. For volunteers from the INP, participating in Brain Education Day is not only an opportunity to share with the New Haven community, but also a bonding experience with their classmates.

The graduate student team implemented new ideas to make brainy activities even more engaging than in previous years. Throughout the day, participants visited stations where they discovered human brain imaging, learned about anatomy by dissecting a sheep brain, and explored neural activity while filling out March Madness brackets.

Elena Gracheva, PhD, professor of cellular and molecular physiology and of neuroscience, delivered a keynote about sensory physiology. Gracheva has been involved with Brain Education Day for many years, but delivering a 1-hour lecture was a first.

“We think this is an absolutely fantastic investment in the future, and our payback to the public, who supports our research with tax money.” Elena Gracheva

Owens, Meng, and Albanese spearheaded the morning’s Brain Fair, a collection of stations students could visit at their own pace while waiting for the full group to be ready. Among the 5 to 10-minute activities, students explored optical illusions, or used electromyography to measure the electrical activity of their muscles whenever they would clench their fists.

Also new this year, students received a bingo card, designed by Meng, prompting them to talk to others. This made them very comfortable initiating conversations with both other middle schoolers and volunteers. A full bingo card would give them a raffle ticket for a T-shirt or neuro-inspired plushie.

Some participants proudly wore their hard-won T-shirts and got them signed by volunteers, who found it both adorable and amusing. “You are part of a popular band for a minute,” said Kemenyfy-Rojas.

Kemenyfy-Rojas shared how, after volunteering for Brain Education Day once, the students’ interest is what got her to sign up for more, and she became an organizer in subsequent years. The middle schoolers’ eagerness to learn was obvious to all graduate students around, and they were all impressed by how many asked such great questions.

The organizers of Brain Education Day 2027 will be sending a call for volunteers at the end of 2026.