To enhance teenagers' safety awareness, stimulate their interest in materials science, and promote positive interaction and cooperation between the college and the community, on January 15, the School of Materials Science and Engineering jointly organized with Muguan Island Community in Poli Town a youth safety education event entitled Safety Companion, Materials Enlighten Minds—Building Community Safety Defenses Together, Lighting the Torch of Scientific Exploration, with participation from 18 volunteers of the college's Materials Pioneer service team.
Prior to the event commencement, Wei Yujun, Party Committee Secretary of Muguan Island Community, led the college volunteers on a tour of Poli Town Community Social Organization Innovation and Development Base. He elaborated on how the community leverages resource integration and collaborative partnerships to establish organizational innovation as a robust pillar for grassroots governance. Following the visit, Secretary Wei emphasized the critical importance of youth safety education and expressed prospects for deepened collaboration between the college and the community.
During the formal event session, Zhao Biao, Li Yuanqing, and Zhang Xinyi—2022 Master's candidates in Materials Engineering—delivered safety awareness lectures to adolescent community residents. Their presentations covered household electricity safety, proper use of electrical appliances, traffic safety, and fire prevention, equipping youth with practical knowledge for enhanced self-protection. Subsequently, fellow graduate student Sun Hao demonstrated through multimedia presentations how advanced materials contribute to architectural safety, fireproofing, and personal protective equipment. His interactive session on fundamental material properties and safety mechanisms successfully sparked scientific curiosity among participants, laying groundwork for future STEM exploration.
The event culminated in dynamic experimental demonstrations and interactive sessions. Volunteers captivated the young audience by showcasing shape-memory alloys, hydrophobic materials, rubber band elasticity tests, and the spectacular flame palm experiment. These hands-on activities allowed participants to directly observe remarkable material properties while gaining practical understanding of their real-world applications in modern technology.
The event received unanimous acclaim from community youth, achieving dual objectives: creating valuable opportunities for safety education and scientific enlightenment, while enabling volunteers to enhance their competencies through hands-on practice, thereby contributing youthful energy to building a safer, more harmonious and civilized community. Moving forward, the college will deepen integration with community resources through strengthened university-local collaboration, establishing sustainable platforms for student development. This initiative will drive the regularized, long-term and branded development of volunteer services, with planned quarterly safety science workshops and annual Materials Innovation Challenge competitions to institutionalize community engagement.
Copy & Photos/ Li Jianxiao, Liang Huanyu, Wang Wenwen
Layout/ Teng Huaisheng
Review/ Yang Wenzhao
