On April 21, 2017, eight students from A. Mario Loiederman Middle School visited Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland via the Brian K. Betts Foundation sponsored College Connection Program.

The day started with a presentation from the admissions department. They spoke about academic choices, research opportunities and student life. The students were also able to hear about experiences in these areas from the student athlete hosts. After the presentation, the students were taken on a tour of the campus. The tour included stops in the library and some academic buildings, highlighted by a view of a robotic surgery lab and the university’s archaeological museum.

The students had the opportunity to have lunch in the JHU dining hall which always seems to be a highlight of the day for them. After lunch, the students took a tour of a dorm room of one of the JHU hosts. After the tour, the students got a great opportunity to observe JHU students taking part in a Protein Engineering and Biochemistry Lab. The professor welcomed the students into the lab as she described the experiment to take place and some of the JHU students even explained the steps in the experiment to the Loiederman students as they conducted the experiment.

The students were then given a tour of the athletic facilities at JHU, including locker rooms and training rooms. The JHU Athletic Director was kind enough to stop by and meet with the students as well. The students received Johns Hopkins t-shirts and posters before heading off to watch the Baseball team take on Franklin & Marshall. After the baseball game, the students came back to the athlete’s lounge for pizza and to sum up the day.