While some kids are learning to ride horses, climb ropes and make pottery (all worthy activities) at summer camp, some kids in Huntington are analyzing strands of fish DNA through a program called DACE in the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Center.

DACE stands for DNA and College Experience and it’s a program run by the Marshall Community and Technical College with help from Marshall University and Verizon. High school students get to experience what it’s like to run a real research project. From the Huntington Herald-Dispatch:

“They’re doing the same type of experiments that a researcher would do,” said Jean Chappell, dean of Allied Health at Marshall University and the author of the grant that made the program possible. “They’re learning about the environment, and they’re learning about biotechnology.”

Sounds like fun. I just hope they don’t release any genetically mutated monster toads into the streams.