Source: Tanning Trends Member Meetup - http://www.tanning-trends.com/page.php?pid=207

Smart Tan Member Salon becomes “UV Lab”

Sun Studio Tanning Salon in Chesterfield, Mo. acted as a sort-of UV laboratory for a couple of local school science projects recently. Smart Tan member and salon owner Karen King helped Kaitlin Bumpus, a fifth-grader at River Bend School in Chesterfield, by providing a controlled ultraviolet environment for her science project. Bumpus’s experiment confirmed her hypothesis – that moderate exposure is beneficial and overexposure is not – even for lima beans.

Bumpus was interested in the effect of ultraviolet light on the growth of lima beans, so she contacted King at Sun Studio to obtain ultraviolet light in a controlled environment for her project. In addition to the data she collected, Bumpus used information provided by Sun Studio as part of her presentation. Her efforts gained her a blue ribbon in the Greater St. Louis Science Fair.

“The hypothesis was supported because my results showed that the seeds that were exposed to ultraviolet light grew better than the control (the seed that had no ultraviolet light) and that the seeds that were exposed for the longest times showed a general downward trend and a decline in growth. My research showed that plants need ultraviolet light, but not too much for best growth,” Bumpus told King.

In a second project, several classmates at St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Louis, Mo. researched and used information provided during on-the-job training at Sun Studio for a Senior Science Seminar. During the two-day presentation seminar for classmates, the students covered the advantages and the disadvantages of tanning outdoors versus indoors, sunscreens, spray-on tans and the tanning pill. Students in the audience determined their skin type and learned about protecting their skin while getting a great tan. After a pop quiz, the student answering the most questions received a certificate for free tanning. King said the presentation changed minds, and not just for the students. “Before the seminar, the science teacher was not in favor of indoor tanning,” King said. “The presentation was impressive and the students convinced her to try tanning indoors before embarking on a trip.”