A wonderful event you probably missed (again!): Axolotl Day
Yesterday, the Brown Science Center celebrated its second annual Axolotl Day. The festivities began at 4:00 p.m. and included pizza, games, raffle prizes, and a brief presentation by William Daniels, a fifth year graduate student in Marine Biology and axolotl enthusiast.
You may be asking yourself: what even is an axolotol? An axolotl, also known as the Mexican salamander or Mexican walking fish, is a critically endangered amphibian. Your follow-up question is most likely: so why are we celebrating Axolotl Day at Brown? The answer to that question is a lot less clear, but who would ever turn down an hour of pizza, cake, student art, trivia, and happiness?
Upon stepping off the elevator, these stunning Axolotl cakes, created by Donna Caprio, a Brown Facilities employee, greeted partygoers. One could have stood there for the entire event, admiring the cakemanship, but there were places to go, things to do, and people to see.
With all of the commotion, it could have been easy to lose sight of Fitzgerald Maxolotl, the true star of the show and a Science Center fixture. Maxolotl gave off a gracious, yet coy "welcome to my party" to all who took the time to thank her for her hospitality. Not only is she an A+ hostess, but check out her LinkedIn (carefully curated by Kristine Mar '18):
After meeting Fitzgerald, partygoers were able to grab a slice of pizza and make a lap around the Science Center, where they played games like Axolotl Jeopardy (Axolotl Care for 500, please) and "Pin the Gil on the Axo," and admired student artwork for the Axolotl competition, and pondered the true meaning of Axolotol appreciation.
The Axolotl Art Competition, open to the Brown and RISD community, was perhaps the best part of the event, and featured over 20 literary and art submissions. The winners, selected by the Science Center administrative and student staff, were:
- Yixuan Wang '18 for “Will Listen to All Your Problems”
- Kim Pham '19 for “Axolotls meet snow Axolotl”
- Grace Zhang '19 for “Axo Simmons”
- and Tiffany Chen '18 for “Axolotl Remembered”
The Blognonian Award for greatest piece of Blogger axo art goes to Caitlin Dorman '16 for the masterpiece below. We are so proud of her.
All in all, the Brown Science Center admins and students pulled off a wonderful study-break event full of goofy activities and opportunities to learn and appreciate the endearing Axolotol.Images via, Katelyn Weingart '18, Kenji Endo '18, and Caitlin Dorman '16.