Laser Fun Day will be a day of family-friendly fun featuring all kinds of different activities involving lasers. It will take place on Saturday, April 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Meinel Building at 1630 E. University Blvd.

The ninth annual Laser Fun Day is free to attend and will have activities ranging from science demonstrations like cow-eye dissections to interactive demonstrations like the fan-favorite laser maze. Overall, there will be three different floors full of activities.

“It’s a great learning experience, and it’s a good way to spend the day,” said Micaehla May, an optical sciences graduate student and communications manager for Laser Fun Day. “It’s a way to experience optics in a tangible way instead of just seeing it as people who use light to make science happen.”

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One of Laser Fun Day’s most popular attractions for both children and adults has been the laser maze. 

“It’s kind of like being in your own spy movie. We took over one of the lecture halls, and we’ve got a laser maze that snakes around the room with a bunch of different mirrors,” May said. “We have all these different patterns that kids are trying to get through, and it’s really funny seeing parents try it, because they can’t quite fit through the small gaps.”

Laser Fun Day will be presented by SOCk, the UA’s official Student Optics Chapter, and the College of Optical Sciences. It is held to showcase all the different work that is done within SOCk and the college.

“A really cool part of Laser Fun Day is that it’s in the community, it’s free and it’s put on by people who love science and want other people to have that same passion. I think the outreach here is just phenomenal,” said Noah Hamstra, an optical sciences student and designer for Laser Fun Day.

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Other attractions at Laser Fun Day include a new infrared camera where attendees can get prints of themselves to take home and a large Fresnel lens, which can melt rocks.

“There’s a bunch of different, cool optical science experiences that you would have never even thought of before,” Hamstra said.

For more information on Laser Fun Day, visit the College of Optical Sciences’ website.

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