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Tuesday, July 17, 2007 Harry Potter in class of his own |
 News-Journal/ PETER BAUER Steven Albinson, 13, watches vapors in a black cauldron as part of the Harry Potter Science Magic workshop at Stetson University in DeLand on Monday. At the weeklong summer camp students learn science and chemistry basics based on themes from the Harry Potter series. |
That’s when 11-year-old Madison Smith knew she made the right move enrolling in the week-long class.
“I just thought that was cool,” Smith said. “I knew then I was going to have fun.”
So like the other 19 pupils, the Sanford girl couldn’t wait for Monday, when she boarded the Hogwarts Express at Platform 93/4 for Harry Potter’s fictional world. There, the only required supplies are — a wand, cauldron and a crystal ball.
In this case, though, Hogwarts School is an elaborately decorated classroom at Stetson University and a class taught by professor Minerva McGonagall, known as Lynn Albinson in the “Muggle” world.
Albinson has a degree in clinical microbiology and she used to be an investigator for the Food and Drug Administration. She usually teaches a course on crime scene investigation, but she couldn’t resist sneaking in a Harry Potter class.
“The movie just came out, and the final book is due out Saturday, so I thought it would be a nice time for a class like this,” said Albinson, a big Harry Potter fan herself.
Potter is the central character in a series of seven fantasy books by J.K. Rowling that have sold more than 325 million copies worldwide. The latest movie, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” opened Wednesday. The final book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” is scheduled for release Saturday.
The weeklong class — Harry Potter Science Magic — is part of the High Achieving Talented Students program. HATS is a statewide program for Florida pupils in fourth through ninth grades who participate in gifted programs or have scored at or above the 95th percentile on any subject area on any standardized test.
Transforming Room 141 of Sage Hall into the Hogwarts School, complete with Harry’s invisible cloak, potions, and flying broom, wasn’t that hard for Albinson because she had plenty of practice planning elaborate Harry Potter parties for her son.
“He has been reading Harry Potter books ever since he was in kindergarten,” Albinson said. “It kind of grew out of that.”
For their first day, each of the aspiring witches, wizards and warlocks dressed as their favorite or not-so-favorite Harry Potter character.
Not sure what she wanted to be, 14-year old Laura Dietz from Deltona chose a confused Hufflepuff.
“I like being confused,” she said. “Then no one can blame me for a mistake.”
Even though he hated Potter nemesis Draco Malfoy, Alex Dowlin of Edgewater came dressed as Malfoy because “he is blonde, and I didn’t want to change my hair color.”
As in the book, he was put in the Slytherin group. Yes, staying true to the story line, Albinson had the students placed into groups using the sorting Hat — a tattered, talking wizard’s hat that tells first-year students which house they will live in at Hogwarts.
Even though it was the Harry Potter theme that drew Alexandra Rodriquez, 10, of Lake Mary to the class, she quickly discovered that there is some science behind the magic.
“You are learning, but it’s fun learning,” she said.
The pupils started the morning with “herbology,” where they planted and learned about herbs such as mint.
However in keeping with the Harry Potter theme, Albinson also had the students plant mandrakes — a screaming plant that resembles an ugly, dirt-covered baby.
In this case the mandrakes were baby dolls glued to plastic plants. To complete the effect she made sure someone squealed whenever one of the students picked up the plant.
“That was just freaky,” Madison said.
In the afternoon, the students learned about cartography by making Harry’s infamous Marauder’s Map — a map that looks like an old piece of parchment until the magic words: “I solemnly swear I am up to no good” are spoken.
Other lessons this week include the Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Divination, and Transfiguration, all of which will have a hidden science lesson.
“It’s Harry Potter, and it’s science,” said 10-year old Jacob Gowan from DeBary. “It’s the best of both worlds.”
Movie Magic
In its opening weekend, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” the fifth in the series, raked in $77.1 million, making its gross to date $139.7 million.
Breaking Records
The final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” will be released at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Its first-day advance orders were
547 percent higher than the previous “Half-Blood Prince,” according to Amazon.com.
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