To address the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium's goal of encouraging interest among the youth of Minnesota in the space sciences, BSU held a Discovery Day , a conference/competition for area high school students and their teachers. Discovery Day is intended to not only to introduce space science to students in northern Minnesota, but to introduce BSU and its university programs to a wide range of college bound young people and to provide an opportunity for area high school teachers and university staff to exchange ideas on mutual concerns.

The topic of this year's Discovery Day was "Life in the Universe," addressing the question: Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? Participants consisted of a group of high school teams, each with seven to ten members selected by the high school teacher, competing at BSU for a space grant scholarship. Participants were presented with various aspects of the topic of the conference by university staff and special guests. This complemented the preliminary instruction received by the students from their teachers prior to Discovery Day . The special lectures were as follows:

1. a representative of NASA Johnson Space Flight Center gave a lecture on various planets in the solar systems;
2. a distinguished mammologist gave a talk about evolution;
3. a well-known northern Minnesota educator spoke on cosmology;
4. the head of the BSU Chemistry Department presented information about the chemical basis for life;
5. one of the associate directors of the consortium, John Annexstad, gave a talk about solar systems;
6. a local minister discussed the theological aspects of extraterrestrial life; and
7. a local lawyer presented the legal aspects of encountering extraterrestrial cultures.

Discovery Day began with a guided tour of BSU's campus for the high school students, while teachers met for coffee with university staff. Then, the talks on the various topics of the day were given. At the conclusion of the lecture series, each high school team was given a half hour to prepare an argument for or against the possibility of life elsewhere in the cosmos. A panel of judges consisting of Dr. Ralph Harvey of the University of Tennessee, Dr. William Garrard, University of Minnesota and Director of the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium, and Doug Blanchard, NASA, heard the presentations by the high school groups and awarded the $500 scholarship to Fossten High School.

Discovery Day was extremely successful. A great deal of interest in the space sciences has been generated among the participants and among the high school students at the participating institution who benefited from the information presented in the classroom by the participating teachers. Relations with area high schools were enhanced and with the help of these contacts, plans for next year's Discover Day are in place. Next year's topic will be on "Planetary Atmospheres and Weather." The Consortium hopes to implement conferences such as this one throughout the State of Minnesota in the near future. Congratulations to John Annexstad and Bob Melchior at BSU for a successful conference and for helping the Consortium to meet its goals!