LILLINGTON — Central Carolina Community College and Triton High School hosted a laser workshop Sept. 26 for 38 students and four education coordinators from the Science House at North Carolina State University. The workshop took place in the laser laboratory at the college’s Harnett County Campus, in Lillington.

The Science House is a K-12 outreach program of NCSU. Its mission is to increase student enthusiasm for science by partnering with K-12 teachers to promote hands-on inquiry-based science learning.

The workshop exposed the students to laser and fiber optics technology in a format that was fun and informative. During the workshop, participants did “hands-on” technology learning activities, including use of lasers to measure absorption, spectral response, dispersion, divergence, and fiber optic critical angles. The workshop also included a beam alignment contest.  

Instruction at the workshop was provided by Gary Beasley, lead instructor of Central Carolina C.C.’s Laser & Photonics Technology Program, and Kevin Pope, Triton High School technology teacher, assisted by second-year Laser and Photonics Technology students Skye Hoffman, David Nettleton, Katie Renshaw, Renee Sexton, and Jamie Yeatman. 

For more information about the Laser & Photonics program, contact Beasley at the CCCC Harnett Campus at (910) 814-8828 or email: gbeasley@cccc.edu. For more information about the NCSU Science House, call (919) 515-6118 or email science_house@ncsu.edu.