FREEPORT — For 12-year-old Ryann Moore, trading time inside an air-conditioned classroom in exchange for a hands-on science experience inside a humid trailer was just the break she needed.

As she boarded the trailer, turned traveling classroom on wheels, words such as “cool” and “wow” dominated the sixth-grader’s vocabulary. The Lanier Middle School student simply couldn’t contain her excitement as she discovered how black lights function and how to work Wild Planet’s Super Sonic Ear, which allows individuals to eavesdrop on other conversations.

By the time she departed the 40-foot exhibit trailer called the Trailblazer, Moore’s face was marked with glow in the dark chalk and she couldn’t stop talking about her short journey. Thanks to the Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering and Dow Promise, Moore can add science and technology to her list of possible career choices. But it’s still too early to tell if it will reign over her dreams of becoming a firefighter.

“I really enjoyed all of it,” Moore said after checking out dead bugs through lenses. Moore recalled learning about Newton’s third law concerning motion, and how magnets work. Friday’s trip through the Trailblazer was cooler than class, despite the warm temperature, she said.

Throughout the week, sixth-graders at some Brazosport ISD schools got a chance to walk through the traveling exhibit, which featured stations on everything from magnets and the solar system to black lights, weather stations and aerodynamic displays.

It was an effort to encourage them to pursue careers in science and technology. Pam Cook, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering, said a lot of kids don’t have access to science equipment and the ones that do have access don’t have access on a regular basis.

“But once they are exposed to it, they find it very engaging,” Cook said. One of the organization’s goals is to help increase the future work pool by getting to students before they have a chance to lock themselves into the courses set on a career path.

“We don’t want kids to shut themselves out of future careers,” Cook said. The exhibit featured seven stations, including a globe where students could learn facts about social studies and science at the same time.

Students learned how gyroscopes work, how tornadoes form and how turbulence is affected by wind and the angle of a plane’s wings. How aerodynamics explain how planes fly and how different eyeglass prescriptions have varying effects on the same-size typeface were also among the day’s lessons.

“The response has been very good,” Cook said. Students walked away with newfound knowledge, but they didn’t come on empty. Cook recalled how one student began naming bones in the human body after stopping at the X-ray display.

Josanna Lopez, 11, recalled a recent science experiment.  “We took 30 noodles and taped them together and made a pyramid to see if it would hold a book,” Lopez said, noting the noodles could be cut. Some noodles were able to hold the book, but others didn’t, she said. It depended on how we applied our skills, she said.

Lopez, who wants to become a singer, said she has considered a career in science or technology. Those are words that Isha Cogburn, a Dow Chemical Co. spokeswoman, wants to hear.

Cogburn and other volunteers from Dow Promise put in nearly 120 volunteer hours helping and answering students’ questions. The purpose of Dow Promise is to positively impact economically and educationally challenged communities near Dow sites, she said.

When there is talk about mobilizing Dow’s resources one usually thinks about money, Cogburn said, but it includes establishing partnerships to benefit the community. As students made their way to the end of the exhibit, Cogburn’s thoughts flashed to the future.

“Imagine if all of these kids decided to pursue a career in science,” Cogburn said. “That’ll be great.” But even if they didn’t sway students to a career in science or technology, Cogburn said “At least we’re planting a seed.”