Written by Miranda Wang and Kelly Xian (Class of 2028)
Photos by attendees

On Saturday, March 7th 2026, DVGS students participated in the 2026 North Bay Science Discovery Day at Sonoma County in Santa Rosa, California–an annual event hosted by UC ANR 4-H Youth Development Program. 

The North Bay Science Discovery Day has over 150 booths from different organizations and companies, covering the introductions of a variety of topics, subjects, researches and programs ongoing inside each organization including international collaborations and programs. Many DVGS students volunteered at the event, taking part in activities related to environmental work, engineering, medical fields, and scientific related work.

The students that attended realized that volunteering builds and strengthens one’s leadership and responsibility. During the event, the volunteers were assigned to different booths and were responsible for introducing the booth activities with the young attendees. For this reason, the students learned to understand each booth while explaining it using languages that are feasible for the participants. 

A highlight of this event was clean up. The students were split into smaller groups and worked together to clean up the entire fair ground. They collected reusable items such as banners and name tags for next year’s science discovery day. Moreover, everyone worked together to clear all the trash around the fair ground, leaving everything spotless. This experience taught the students the importance of responsibility and crucial skills such as teamwork. 

“While volunteering for Zenni optical, I came to realize how essential sunglasses are for our eye health. Their UV- protective lenses block harmful UVA and UVB rays, preventing long- term damage like cataracts, macular degeneration, and photokeratitis.” – Kelly Xian (Class of 2028)

“While volunteering at Denali Therapeutics, I learnt about how brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, brain cancer and Parkinson’s develop, and the research and project this organization is doing to treat them.”- Miranda Wang (Class of 2028)

Everyone had a great experience during Science Discovery Day and walked away with a lot of knowledge. The event also helped the students develop collaboration, communication, friendships, and gave them a chance to discover interest and possible future careers in STEM fields by exchanging experiences and working together! Special thanks to all the teachers and parent drivers that made this volunteering experience possible.