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For some kids, science can sometimes seem excruciating, but many children who grew up in the 1990s know of one man who always made it fun – Bill Nye, “The Science Guy.”

Wearing his signature bowtie, Nye spoke last week at Kent State University’s Stark Campus to more than 600 students and community members. The author and comedian is most famous for his hit television show, “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” which aired from 1993-1998. Although his presentation contained many jokes, it also came with a serious message – reversing climate change.

“We are living through the very beginning of what most scientists predicted would happen as the world gets going,” he said. “Here’s what I want you guys to do – I want you to change it back.”

During the presentation, Nye spoke about his childhood and his unusual love of sundials, which he attributes to his father. He also described his involvement in the NASA project that sent two sundials to Mars.

While he explained science concepts to the audience, he used comedy to keep everyone enthralled. When Nye compared the surface of Venus to the game Lava, where children pretend they can’t touch the floor because it’s made of Lava, he climbed onto his podium to mimic the game.

“If you go to Venus, I encourage you to be very careful,” Nye joked.

Nye hosted a video conference to area schools before his presentation. Five schools participated by asking questions, while 21 other schools were view-only sites. Cynthia Williams, public relations coordinator for Kent State Stark, said it was the largest response they have seen for video conferences with Stark’s Featured Speaker Series.

“He’s creating younger generations of scientists every time he talks,” Williams said.

Although Nye’s show has been off the air for more than a decade, Brian Baldwin, an 8th grade science teacher at West Branch Middle School, said he still shows episodes of the program to his students. Baldwin said Nye has been an inspiration to him.

“He presents [science] in a fun but practical way,” Baldwin said. “He’s able to explain it to them in a way they can understand.”

When discussing climate change, Nye listed several ways individuals could help to reverse the trend. He showed photos of his own home, where he uses solar panels to provide heat and sun domes to provide natural light.

Jackson High School Senior Cheyenne Fenstemaker said she found his speech motivational.

“It was inspirational hearing about the way Bill lives his everyday life,” Fenstemaker said. “It shows you that all of us can do it.”

Near the end of his presentation, Nye emphasized the importance of education, and he said he hopes everyone experiences the joy of discovery that can be found in science.

“You could have the joy of knowing like no other generation before you,” said Nye.

“It’s possible that someone in this room will have an idea that will – dare I say it – change the world.”

Editor’s Note: BRsq, after the coverage had slightly calmed down, wanted to know from high school students and those in high school during 9/11 what Osama bin Laden’s death meant to them.

For many, Osama bin Laden represented the fear America lived in for almost ten years following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. When he was killed on May 2, 2011, Americans breathed a simple sigh of relief and some took to the streets in celebration.

Some were outraged that America was celebrating the terrorist’s death. Others demanded to see proof while U.S. forces buried his body at sea.

After years of investigating the whereabouts of bin Laden, officials pinpointed his location to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. President Barack Obama launched an attack on the location.

“A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability,” Obama said when he addressed Americans May 2. “After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.”

Jason Wicker, 25, a junior at McKinley Senior High School during 9/11, said Osama’s capture would have meant more to him nine years ago. America will be be more cautious when the tenth anniversary of 9/11 comes this year though, he said.

Wicker said groups that supported bin Laden may be empowered by the way the Al Qaeda leader was killed.

“I think a lot of people are going to label him as a martyr because he wanted to die in gunfire,” he said. “Now that we gave him that opportunity rather than bringing him to justice, it’s going to be symbolic to a lot of the people we’re fighting against.”

He said Americans’ celebrations for bin Laden’s murder is hypocritical.
“That’s doing the exact same thing you’re labeling them as doing,” he said.

Derek Gordon, 26, also a junior at McKinley during the 9/11 attacks, said American celebration is warranted, but people should be careful about drawing it out so they do not agitate terrorist groups further.

“I think we have to be proud of what we’ve accomplished but try not overdo it in the media or our own celebrations,” he said. “I think that’s part of the thing the rest of the world doesn’t like about Americans is when we flaunt our success in other peoples’ faces.”

Like many other Americans, Gordon thought 9/11 was an accident when the first plane hit the North Tower, but he soon found out how serious the situation was when the three crashes followed.

“It was just a day of really not knowing what was going on and what was happening next because at that point we didn’t even know who it was that was attacking us or what the motives were,” he said.

He said Americans discovered they were not untouchable and to be careful about dealing with world cultures.

“I don’t think we truly grasped as Americans how much other places in the world resented us,” he said. “Now we’re much more sensitive to the rest of the world’s problems.”

Current high school students were in elementary school during the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Many did not know of the dramatic events until they got home to their families, watching the footage run constantly on the television for weeks.

Hoover High School senior Alexa Costi, 19, was diligently studying for a psychology exam the next day when her father told her the president was going to make an announcement about bin Laden’s death.

“I wasn’t shocked,” she said. “It didn’t mean that much to me considering I thought he was dead for years.”

She said she remembers the Sept. 11 attacks vividly, but she was appalled at the crowds celebrating bin Laden’s death.

“Murder is murder no matter who the person is,” she said. “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Bin Laden was the founder of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda. Nineteen terrorists from the organization hijacked four passenger airplanes on Sept. 11., intentionally crashing them into both buildings of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One hijacked plane went down in a field in Pennsylvania. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people.

Sophomore at McKinley Jonah Long, 15, said bin Laden’s death didn’t bother him.

“I believe it was right to kill him,” he said. “He deserved it.”

McKinley sophomore Alondra Kimbrough, 15, also said bin Laden’s death doesn’t affect her, but, overall, it’s good for the U.S..

“I feel like him being dead is almost a relief,” she said. “We won’t have to have our troops looking for him in Afghanistan.”

Others are more concerned about the lack of evidence.

McKinley junior Devonte Taylor, 17, said he needs evidence bin Laden is gone.

“I feel that he isn’t dead,” he said. “We haven’t seen the body yet.”

Obama refused to release images of bin Laden’s body, saying they were too graphic and could heighten tensions with the Middle East.

Al Qaeda publicly acknowledged that bin Laden is dead on the group’s websites. Pakistani newspapers reported they named Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian soldier, their temporary leader this week. Along with acknowledging bin Laden’s death, the terrorists vowed to revenge it by continuing attacks on America.

Maranda Shrewsberry and Sage Bruckner contributed to this story.