By Cheyene Miller

[email protected]

Despite the recent retirement of its mobile classroom, a truck used to take displays of donated body parts to local schools, the UK Outreach Center for Science and Health Career Opportunities continues to educate Kentucky students about the wonders of the human body on campus.

“I want you to feel awesome about these body parts,” said Outreach Center director Donald Frazier while giving a presentation Tuesday morning on human anatomy using human body parts to a group of students from Lexington Christian Academy.

Since its implementation in 1993, the Outreach Center has been headquartered in the UK Medical Center Annex 5, which was scheduled to be demolished at the time.

“We argued that it would be a waste, because I can certainly use it,” said Frazier, who noted that he has since lectured around 4,000 students from primary and secondary schools per year.

Part of the Outreach Center was the mobile classroom truck, which Frazier had to retire earlier in the year due to costs after almost 20 years of traveling all over the state.

“It got very expensive to put gas in it,” said Frazier, who acknowledged that the mobile classroom was the only way that many students were able to experience his anatomy lessons.

He noted, though, that the lessons that the Outreach Center provides are free for classes who can travel to campus.

Students who do have the opportunity to visit the Outreach Center are presented with lectures on the human body by Frazier and other medical professionals like Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn.

During the lecture, Frazier started by talking about DNA, which he said was entirely structured “to make you feel awesome.”

Frazier then went step-by-step through each major human body system, using organs, spinal cords and skeletal structures from people who donated their bodies to science.

He involved students like Lexington Christian senior Hunter Mitchell the entire time by having them hold the body parts and answer questions related to anatomy.

“I’ve enjoyed it, I think it’s really interesting,” said Mitchell, who plans to become either an orthodontist or a physical therapist. “All of the people here are really knowledgeable of the (human) anatomy. This all does intrigue me.”

Tour coordinator Lisa Stevens has worked for Frazier for ten years and said she has loved the experience of working with students.

According to Stevens, the donated human body parts given to the Outreach Center are always used until they begin to decompose.

“Until it’s no longer of use, we will use it to its full(est),” Stevens said.