On Saturday October 8, I had the opportunity to represent the Brandywine Child Development Lab (BCDL) at Senator Dominic Pileggi's Kids' Fun Fair at Sun Valley High School. The Lab is located here on Brandywine's campus, and is directed by Dr. Jennifer Zosh, assistant professor of human development and family studies (HDFS).

I'm Laura Twiss-Garrity (pictured center above) and I conduct research alongside Dr. Zosh, senior Lisa Dececco (pictured far left above) and junior T'Chell Looby (pictured far right above) to examine how children learn about the world around them. We seek to answer questions like, "How do young children learn language?" and "How many objects can an infant remember?" This research excited me as a junior at the Brandywine campus and during my senior year I was able to create my own research project. Since graduating last May, I have remained a volunteer at the Lab and I hope to attend a Ph.D. program in developmental psychology next fall. 

Senator Pileggi's Kids' Fun Fair was great! It gave the BCDL an opportunity to present itself to the community; since it just opened and is in the process of recruiting local families, the fair came at the perfect time. There were hundreds of local families browsing tables manned by numerous organizations, getting their faces painted, waiting for balloon animals, and meeting us ... the researchers from the Brandywine Child Development Lab! The fair gave our team a chance to talk to interested families about participating in research studies, meet and create relationships with other organizations, and even meet local legislators and explain why research done at the BCDL is so important.

Overall I think that Senator Pileggi's Kids' Fun Fair was a huge success and I look forward to meeting the families that participate in our research!

- Laura Twiss-Garrity '11 HDFS