The Materials Engineering Student Society Club (MESS) participated in the 16th annual Cal Poly Open House on Saturday April 18, 2009. Hundreds of admitted/perspective students and their families visited campus to experience the cultural atmosphere of Cal Poly’s diverse family of students, faculty, and staff.

MESS showcased demos, student projects and more! Some included: (1) a non-newtonian pool which is liquid but if a person moves quickly enough and applies sufficient force, they can literally run across the pool! (2) Demonstration on "How to make Liquid Nitrogen ice cream" by combining liquid nitrogen, cream, sugar, vanilla extract and flavor choices like chocolate or berries into a huge pot and stirring. The liquid nitrogen is so cold it instantly creates thousands of small ice crystals. Voila! It’s science and you have ice cream!

In conjunction with the demos, MESS also sold carne asada burritos and t-shirts (designed by materials engineering students and friends) from a decorated booth to fund student activities. The decorated booth exemplified the 2009 Open House theme of "Design Your Future." MESS attached canvases labeled "Sketch Your Dreams" and "Create a Masterpiece" along with writing utensils all around the booth. This gave everyone and anyone the opportunity to express their hopes, dreams, and future for others to see and acknowledge.

At the end of the day MESS was awarded $50 and a ribbon for the booth that demonstrated the Best Use of Theme. As a club we were happy to follow in the footsteps of last year’s booth (Open House 2008), which was awarded Most Spirited.

In all, MESS had a great time at Open House 2009 and was excited to see so many people amazed, interested, and intrigued by the field of Materials Engineering!