Kim Hernandez | The Insider
Sophomore Students visit the Bodies Exhibit in Manhattan
Rumor has it that the bodies on display at the Bodies Exhibition at the South Street Seaport are dead political prisoners from China. According to the employees, the Chinese government donated these unclaimed bodies for exhibit.
“They [the bodies] come from northern China. The people who die in the hospitals and have unclaimed bodies for six months to a year are taken care of by the government. The Chinese government donates them to The Bodies Exhibition,” said a Bodies Exhibition Volunteer.
This month all the sophomores were taken to this exhibit to enhance their science learning and spend time together outside the classroom.
Although students have not learned about the body yet in living environment, the trip was mandatory for all sophomores because learning about the body is part of the living environment curriculum.
According to Ms. Carmella Pepe, the bodies are preserved by a technique called polymer preservation. This process permanently preserves the bodies in a liquid silicone rubber that prevents decay. All the body fluids are removed before injecting the silicone and are replaced with a chemical called acetone.
“I was very interested in the Bodies Exhibit because it gave me an inside look of how an actual human body looks,” said sophomore Michael Luppino.
The Bodies Exhibition allows students to learn about the inside of their bodies and includes displays of body parts that have been affected by smoking and obesity.
“I have been to The Bodies Exhibition before, and the display of the bodies was disturbing, but I learned a lot from the trip,” said sophomore Christopher Smart.
While visiting, students learned about organs, tissues, and many other parts of the body. Students also learned where each part is located in the body and their function.
“I think it is important for the students to see the actual tissue and muscle fibers because they look very different from the power points and textbooks,” said science teacher Ms. Lena Douris.
