Twelve-year-old Jen Rustige admitted she was a little grossed out when the lecturer started poking around in a human heart. But, she said she thought she'd be ready to handle her own hands-on dissection experiment later this year.

Jen and other 7th graders from Queen of All Saints School in south St. Louis were among several hundred area school kids at last month's "How the Body Works" session at Saint Louis University.

The demonstration included views of actual human hearts and other internal organs projected onto a 17-foot screen. The kids wore 3-D glasses that made the images even more life-like.

SLU's Adventures in Medicine and Science program gives elementary, middle and high schools a chance for state-of-the-art classes in anatomy, health and science education. That allows even small schools to have top-notch experts teach anatomy classes.

For last month's session, Mr. Jay Nastav was the instructor. He holds a master's degree in anatomy and is on his way to becoming a medical doctor.

The "How the Body Works" class provides an overview of how various systems within the human body work together. The SLU program also offers more specialized classes on the functioning of such individual organs such as the human heart, brain, lungs and the skeletal system.

Mr. Ray Vollmer is the program coordinator for AIMS. He said the classes are offered to kids on the SLU campus and also as distance-learning experiences. In distance learning, the lecturers are on campus but their messages are delivered over closed-circuit TV to kids in their local schools.

He said AIMS will provide 150 classes during this school year.

In addition to the 3D lectures in the AIMS' 400-seat auditorium, the program also has a well-equipped laboratory classroom where the kids can do individual computer-aided experiments.

This month, AIMS will offer a 3D class on The Human Ear, Nose, Throat and Eyes on Monday, March 9.

(If your school might be interested in such science classes, you can visit the program's website at http://aims.slu.edu. Also, the St. Louis Cooperating School Districts organization handles telecasts of AMI classes to area schools.)

Jen Rustige said the most interesting part of the 3-D lecture to her was the comparison of a healthy heart with diseased ones. Teacher Nastav had samples of both a healthy heart along with ones that had been damaged by smoking and disease.

One of Jen's classmates was 12-year-old Eddie McInerney. He also thought the views of the human heart were the most interesting parts of the 3-D lecture.

However, 12-year-old Clay Bruner said he thought the description of how the human digestive system was connected all through the body was the most interesting to him.

Mr. Nastav's lecture started with food being put into the mouth. Then he followed the food all the way through the digestive system. He also included information about how the digested food nutrients travel in the blood throughout the body.

In addition to the 17-foot images of the various body parts, the lecturer also referred to another screen which showed a drawing of the interior of the entire body. He would use a light pointer to show where his various organs fit into the overall body.

He said, "How the body works depends on how the body's various systems work right down to the cell level."

The body works to convert food "into useful energy that the cells can use," he said. He explained that the body's metabolism is the system for converting the food into that useful energy.

One of his demonstrations with the human heart involved looking inside a heart where the person had had by-pass surgery to improve the blood supply to the heart itself.

He turned the heart inside-out to show where new blood vessels were attached to the walls of the heart. The kids could see the stitch marks and Mr. Nastav said the "surgeon had been a good seamstress."

Another demonstration was of a human brain. This brain showed how one part had deteriorated when the person had a stroke. The stroke had shut off blood supply to that part and the cells in that part of the brain "died."

Queen of All Saints student Eddie McInerney said he'd already done some dissection of a cow's heart.

Classmate Jen Rustige said later this semester their science class will do some dissections of a chicken leg. That will be during a study of bone structure and the muscles and ligaments which hold the bones together.

Jen said she likes science as a class subject but likes physical science subjects better. She said she likes studying heat transfer and energy.

Eddie McInerney and Craig Bruner said they were more interested in organic science.

Eddie said he thought the lecturer's manipulation of the human heart and brain was "pretty cool." He said he's thinking about being a lawyer or a doctor for his adult occupation.

Clay said he wants an occupation that involves "saving lives." He said he likes lab science where he gets a chance to do experiments and he may want to become a surgeon.

Spring is just around the corner and pretty soon birds will be on the move in Missouri as the seasons change. This is a good time to learn to draw and paint birds in the outdoors.

That was the theme of the "Painting the Birds" class held last month at the Busch Conservation Area headquarters in St. Charles County.

Instructor Carol Price led the class. She spent some time describing the characteristics of birds native to Missouri. But, most of the class time was spent letting the kids and adults try their hand at drawing and painting.

The classroom was filled with stuffed examples of both big and small birds, ranging from the bald eagle to the colorful cardinal.

Ms. Price and other volunteers then distributed paper, pencils and water color paints.

She urged the students to first draw outlines of the birds with pencils. She said they should make the drawn shape of the small birds larger than the models. "Big bird drawing should be smaller than the models," she said.

Once the outline was shaped, the students shifted to watercolor paints to provide the color and finish their artistic efforts.

Ms. Price gave the audience some tips on painting. She urged the painters not to use too much water when mixing their paints. The strongest colors are achieved when using only a little water.

She also gave them a tip on how to achieving a white color without any paint. She said the color of the paper itself can serve as white when painting the birds.

Thus, the white of a bald eagle's head and chest is actually a lack of paint, she said.

The students' end results were varied and unique.

Both 7-year-old Abbey Lawrence and her brother, 11-year-old Evan, came up with pretty realistic bird shapes. But, their colors were a far cry from what the birds wear in nature.

For instance, Abbey chose a wood duck as the model for her painting. But, unlike the regular wood duck's rather bland coloring, Abbey's painting had a wide range of vivid colors.

Asked about her choice of colors, Abbey said, "I just like to have all kinds of different colors."

Her brother Evan's painting was of a Great Blue Heron. That's a long-legged bird that is common along Missouri's rivers and streams.

Evan's painted bird was long-legged. But, his bird's primary color was orange.

He didn't have any definite reason for the color change. "I just liked it to be orange," he said.

Instructor Price told the students that they'd have it easier in the classroom than if they tried to paint birds in the wild. "The birds don't stand still in the outdoors. But, their colors are more vivid than stuffed birds," she said.

To help the students after the class, the staff handed out a variety of MDC brochures and booklets with a wide variety of bird pictures.

One of the booklets was an MDC publication, "Missouri Songbirds." Another was "Feeding Backyard Birds."

The "songbird" publication folds out to make a large poster suitable for hanging. In addition to pictures, there are descriptions of each of the birds. There's even a plan for building a nesting box for bluebirds, wrens and chickadees.

The "feeding" publication gives tips on the types of food each variety of bird likes. It also gives tips on how to adapt your backyard to attract different types of birds.

(These and other colorful bird reference materials can be obtained at MDC conversation areas. To get locations for the area offices, go to http://www.mdc.mo.gov/areas/stlouis/.)

Evan said the best painting he's ever done was of a bluebird. "I painted it with tempura paints," he said.

He said the trip to the bird-painting class was the first time in quite some time he worked on painting. "Now, I mostly do cartooning with pen, pencil and paper," he said.

He and his sister were accompanied to the MDC painting class by their mother, Mrs. Carol Price. She also took part in the painting portion of the class.

Evan said his mother was a pretty good painter. Asked about his dad, Evan said, "He even said I was a better painter than he was when I was just three years old."

Sister Abbey said her favorite painting was a still-life of a vase of daisies. She said that painting is hanging in her bedroom at home.

Both of the kids said they do a lot of things outdoors.

Both said they enjoyed fishing trips.

Evan said the family has a couple of favorite fishing spots. One is at their grand-parents home and another is a pond on another farm location.

Abbey said they also come to a variety of other classes at Busch and other MDC areas in metro St. Louis.

Both of the kids were home-schooled. Abbey is in 2nd grade while Evan is in 5th.

The groundhog saw his shadow last month. That's supposed to mean six weeks more of winter. But, spring is coming and now is a good time to plan what to do when the weather gets warmer.

Young Saint Louis.com checked on a unique program at the St. Louis Science Center. It has a lineup of programs to fill your spring break without even leaving town.

Trailnet next month will have the kickoff of its 2009 plan for biking and hiking trips. This year, there's an expanded lineup of walking hikes along trails throughout the metro area.

Speaking of biking, there are revised plans for the 2009 Tour of Missouri professional bike race. This year, St. Louis will host the start of the cross-state bike ride, rather than host the finish of the race.

(If you know of other institutions that you'd like to visit, this might be a good time for you to call or check their websites. You can see if they have any special spring break or spring activities scheduled already.)

Science Center's spring break camps

The St. Louis Science Center will host a series of Spring Break Day Camps during March 16-27. The camps are a chance to have a spring break experience without even leaving St. Louis.

The camps are for younger kids (grades 1-6) and provide hands-on experiences at making projects you can keep.

All classes are held in the Science Center. There are half-day and full-day sessions. Kids can sign-up for multiple camps. There are admission fees but also kids who sign up for more than one camp get fee discounts.

(For reservations, call the Science Center at (314) 289-4400. For a complete list of the spring break camps, visit www.slsc.org and click on Youth Activities.)

The sessions open Monday, March 16, with two different camps, Sensational Safari and Science of Sound.

There are two separate camps every day.

Among other subjects are Ecology in a Jar, Electricity and Energize Me, Mystery Science, Chemistry, Our Solar System, Trash to Treasures, Mighty Light and the Human Body.

Kids attending get the use the Science Center's standing exhibits and shows as a part of their camp experience.

Trailnet's bike and hike plans

Trailnet will hold its official 2009 Ride Season Kickoff on Saturday, March 14, at the Overland/St. Ann VFW Hall #3944. The event is from 6 to 9 p.m.

A printed official 2009 ride and walk guide will be available then. You also can pick up a copy of the guide at various bike shops throughout the metro area.

(For more, check with the Trailnet website at www.trailnet.org.)

The 2009 riding season gets underway in April and extends throughout the summer and into the fall.

The first official hiking event is the Upland Prairie Walk at Fort Belle Fontaine County Park on Saturday, April 4.

Park Naturalist Dennis Hogan will lead the hike that explores upland prairie and wetland habitat.

The first joint bike/hike event will be the Monarch Chesterfield Levee Trail Hike It or Bike It on Wednesday April 15. That event will be atop the rebuilt Monarch Levee, which protects the Chesterfield Valley from flooding.

The levee trail is four miles long and bikers and hikers can select their own travel distances.

Another April event is a Wings of Spring walking tour of the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary in West Alton, Mo. This will be Saturday, April 25. There's a 3-mile hike on Ellis Island, a 1-mile walk at Two Pecan Pond and a short geocaching walk.

There are over 20 hiking opportunities scheduled in 2009. They extend through December and end with a New Year's Eve Night Hike at Columbia Bottom Conservation area in extreme northeast St. Louis County.

(The complete list of hikes can be found at www.trailnet.org and then click on Rides&Events.)

Tour of Missouri plans

The third 2009 Tour of Missouri road race will be held September 7-13. But, unlike the first two years, this year's race will start in St. Louis. In 2007 and 2008, the cross-state race finished here.

In the previous two years, Trailnet arranged for family events in conjunction with the Tour's finish. Last year, on the day before the Tour ended, families were able to ride the same route the pro racers were going to use the next day.

This year, a Giro & Tour of Missouri Bicycle Ride is scheduled for Sunday, Sept.6. That's the day before the pro racers start off on Labor Day. After a week of racing, the Tour ends in Kansas City this year.

The Giro event has routes of 22, 30 and 43 miles. Each of the routes will include parts of the Tour's St. Louis route. Also, riders will get a chance to watch the Giro della Montagna race, part of the Gateway Cup series.

Participants are invited to return on Monday and watch the start of the Tour.

(For more details, visit the Trailnet website at www.trailnet.org.)

Seventh-grader Josh Nelson's mother has given him the gift of life at two different times.

Ms. Carolyn Nelson gave birth to Josh 13 years ago. Then, in 2003, she donated one of her kidneys to save his life.

One of Josh's kidneys hadn't functioned since birth and the other was operating at just 10 per cent of capacity.

Now, Josh's kidney function is normal. He said his only physical limitation is that his doctors want him to avoid playing contact sports.

"My kidney is located in the front of my body and I might get hit there if I played football or soccer," he said.

But, in some ways, his life has been fuller after the operation. Josh has had some unique life experiences that have come because he is an orgran-transplant recipient.

And, he's using his special status to help others.

He's become active in the Children's Miracle Network's fund-raising. "I was on the air for two hours during one of their holiday telethons," he said.

Then, he was picked to throw out the first pitch at Cardinal stadium to open the 2007 baseball season.

He also was selected to accept the charity check at the Trans Siberian Orchestra holiday concerts at the Scottrade Center both in 2007 and 2008. Those presentations came with an audience of 20,000 looking on.

"Last Christmas, the orchestra members even remembered me from the previous year," he said.

Last month, he and his mother, Carolyn, met with officials of the Mid-America Transplant Services (MTS). "I'll be helping to tell the MTS story about transplants to young audiences," he said.

Mrs. Nelson said, "Josh is a good public speaker. And, it helps to have someone telling the story who has experienced a transplant."

Josh was one organ-transplant recipient who didn't need the MTS services before his operation.

People needing organ transplants often sign up with agencies such as MTS to get on waiting lists. Then, when a compatible organ donor is located, the agencies arrange for the transfer of the organ to where the waiting recipient is.

But, in Josh's case, he brought his donor with him.

The transplant operation actually occurred in two hospitals. Mrs. Nelson said, "I never had a second thought about making the donation."

She said her kidney was a "perfect match" for Josh.

Josh actually had two operations. Six weeks before the transplant was made, Josh had an operation to remove the one ill-functioning kidney he had left. His blood was cleaned by machine while he was without any kidneys.

Mrs. Nelson admits she was worried about the operation to remove her kidney. "I'd never had an operation before," she said.

Josh kidded, "I think she was more worried about her operation than I was of mine."

Mrs. Nelson's removal operation was at SLU Hospital while Josh received the kidney in an operating room at Cardinal Glennon Hospital. Mrs. Nelson said SLU was better set up for adult patients while Cardinal Glennon specializes in children.

Her operation lasted longer, five hours compared to four hours for Josh.

Josh said his favorite subject at Holy Family School is science. He said he hasn't studied much about transplants. "But, our teacher said we'll have more about that in 8th grade. The teacher said we'd also have more about the kidneys," Josh said.

He's pretty sure he'll have more for "show and tell" than his other classmates.

There are his surgical scars associated with the organ removal and transplant. He also has several scars from when he was hooked up to dialysis machines.

At school, Josh participates in volleyball, track and field and, for now, basketball. "The doctors told me not to play basketball in high school because the game is rougher when the kids are bigger," he said.

He also is a member of the Paddlers Swim Team in Granite City. "I've been swimming since I was 2," he said.

He said he hasn't made up his mind where he wants to go to high school. "Half of my friends plan on going to Marquette High School in Alton and half plan to go to Granite City High School," he said.

Marquette is a Catholic school. He said he plans to go to college but hasn't decided where. He does know he wants to study science.

"I want to be a doctor or a forensic pathologist," he said. "I was thinking about being a policeman but the doctors thought that might be too physical an occupation," he added.

Mrs. Nelson, who is divorced, admits that Josh "is the center of my life." Her family email address begins meandjosh@.

One thing is for sure. He's got a lasting reminder of her right inside his body.

(If you have any questions about organ donation or transplants, you can call Mid-America Transplant Services at (314) 991-1661 or visit their website at www.Mts-stl.org. )

Suds Morton took the old schoolroom chant a little bit too seriously - "First grade babies! Second grade cats! Third grade angels! Fourth grade …RATS!" Suds didn't really want to be a rat. But he was now in fourth grade. His friend Joey Peterson, though, was proud of being a rat and was trying hard to get Suds to act like a fourth grade rat, too. Some rules were spelled out. Fourth grade rats aren't afraid of spiders. They never, ever cry. They don't carry lunch buckets with elephant pictures on them. They bring real meat sandwiches for lunch. They eat things they never liked before. They push first graders off the swings. They say no to their moms.

Suds didn't like the rules, especially pushing around first graders and saying no to his mom. But Joey just wouldn't let up. He kept after Suds until Suds actually pushed a couple of first graders off the swings. Suds was pleasantly surprised when a girl he liked started to pay more attention to him when he tried to show he was tough by letting a bee sit on his arm. It was when he said no to his mom, however, that his real troubles began. By the end of the story, the old schoolroom chant gets redefined for both Suds and his friend Joey. There are some funny moments along the way.

Kid's paperback based on a popular animated movie

"The Tale of Despereaux" by Kate DiCamillo was first popular as a book and later made into an animated film. The paperback discussed here is based on the script of the motion picture screenplay and includes pictures from the film. So it is possible some young readers may have read the original book and/or viewed the film version.

The story begins with an unusual rat named Roscuro and his activities on board a large sailing ship. Roscuro is certainly different from other rats. First of all, he speaks like a human and is a favorite of all the sailors on the ship. He is excited because the ship is about to dock in Dor, which he has been told is a magical kingdom. Dor's great claim to fame is its amazing, incredible soup - so delicious that once you have had one spoonful, you will never want any other kind of soup again for the rest of your life. Roscuro can't wait to go ashore and try some of that soup!

Pietro, one of Roscuro's sailor friends, reminds the rat that the ship will not be in the harbor very long. He could be left behind if he gets too far from the dock. It just happened, though, that the two had come ashore on Royal Soup Day, the one day of the year that the King of Dor would make the special soup prepared by Chef Andre available to the people of the kingdom. Roscuro was determined to have some of that soup. He followed his nose and ended up in the king's castle. Climbing up on a chandelier in the castle ballroom, Roscuro ended up right above a large porcelain soup tureen. Just as the queen of Dor was about to taste a spoonful of the soup, Roscuro lost his hold on the chandelier and fell into the soup. The queen is so startled she falls face forward into the tureen and dies. That started a chain of events that makes for a complicated plot for the rest of the story, including a grief-maddened king, a lost princess, and magic kingdom that is plunged into dark despair.

Roscuro barely escapes with his life after falling into the soup. He is chased around the castle until he falls into the rat colony that dwells under the earth. These are real rats - the kind that are vicious and willing to eat anything. It is only at this point in the story that we are introduced to an amazing mouse named Depereaux, who appears to be fearless and wants only to do heroic acts with his needle-sized sword. It takes some time but our little mouse ultimately is responsible for not only saving Roscuro (a good rat), but the Princess of Dor, who has fallen into the hands of the rats (the bad rats). Despereaux, through his bravery, is able to restore order and joy to the Kingdom of Dor.

Japanese-American sisters grow up in Georgia
during the late 1950's

Katie Takeshima's slightly older sister, Lynn, was Katie's closest friend and protector. Lynn always saw the bright side of things. She taught Katie the word kira-kira, which means "glittering" in Japanese, and Katie grew up using the word to describe everything she liked - the sky, puppies, kittens, butterflies, and anything brightly colored.

The girls lived in a small Japanese community in Iowa. Their family lived in a rented house. The parents owned a small Oriental foods grocery store, but business was so slow they had to close. The father's brother worked in a poultry hatchery in Georgia. He talked Katie's family into moving to Georgia, where the father and the mother could get jobs in the poultry industry.

Katie remembered driving through two big cities - St. Louis, Missouri and Nashville, Tennessee. It was on this trip south that the Japanese family first experienced racial prejudice. One motel would only rent them an isolated room in the back and, in addition, charged them extra because they were "colored."

The parents did get jobs, but they both had to work long hours to pay rent for a house and meet other expenses. They wanted to save money to eventually buy a home of their own. But soon after moving to Georgia, Lynn started to show symptoms of serious illness and she grew weaker and weaker. Because of medical expenses, the parents had to work more and more hours. At first, it was felt Lynn was just anemic, but, later she was diagnosed with lymphoma, a cancer of the blood. Lynn fought hard to stay alive for her sister and her family, but, after a long illness, she died.

Katie and her family were devastated by the loss of the ever-optimistic Lynn. Katie gathered together all her memories of her sister and tried in her own way to see kira-kira in all the things around her. When the family managed to take a vacation trip to visit relatives in California it looked as if kira-kira might once again come to be a way to view the world.

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