Stuyvesant students at the DNA Learning Center NYC in downtown Brooklyn
FROM TEXTBOOK TO TEST TUBE
On several days in Spring 2026, Stuyvesant students and Biology teachers enjoyed all-day field trips to the DNA Learning Center NYC in downtown Brooklyn, a hands-on genetics lab built for middle and high school students.
The center is a collaboration between Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the City University of New York, housed at NYC College of Technology (City Tech). It opened in 2021 with six teaching labs and two bioinformatics computer labs, staffed by educators and Ph.D. biologists, and offers field trips, after-school labs, and summer camps in genetics, biotechnology, and molecular biology. It is designed to serve up to 30,000 New York City students a year.
Behind that: a $7,700 PA Annual Appeal grant to the Stuyvesant Biology department, which covers the membership fee to the DNA Learning Center, and the cost of 15 lab activities for the freshman and upperclassman AP Biology classes and genetics classes. This is possible due to Annual Appeal gifts.
Thank you to the amazing Biology teachers who brought their classes and the parents who chaperoned trips throughout the year.
A gift to the Annual Appeal is what turns a lesson plan into a day in a real lab.
