For five evenings over the course of February, the public was invited onto Arizona State University's campuses for Night of the Open Door to see what each has to offer in the form of interactive games, informative displays and plenty of fun. This weekend was the big finale, with scores of activities across the Tempe campus.
Scroll down for video and photos of the fun.
Learners of all ages found animals, art, meteorites, medieval swordfights, science and spectacles as they explored the largest of ASU's campuses.
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Deysi Chavez, 11, and her Big Sister mentor Kris Sherman make a plan on which activities to see at ASU's annual Night of the Open Door open house on the Tempe campus Saturday.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Julien Savage, 10, completes a pull-up for an ASU Army ROTC competition. He and his family travel around the country in an RV and decided to stop here because they read about the Night of the Open Door online.
Photo by Anya Magnuson/ASU Now
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Elton Patino, 3, decides where to place a bone on a skeleton figure at an event hosted by the Center for Bioarchaeological Research. His mother, Gwynne Gonzalez, teaches heritage Spanish at ASU.
Photo by Anya Magnuson/ASU Now
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Connor Perdue runs through the inflatable course during Night of the Open Door on Tempe campus Saturday afternoon.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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Artist Rupert Nesbitt of Brooklyn paints "An Experiment on a Cloud in an Air Pump," a reproduction of a photograph that is a reproduction of the 1768 painting "An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump," at Emerge 2017 Frankenstein: A Festival of Futures. The men, women and children in the painting represented roles that shaped the famous story by Mary Shelley.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Sarah Wu, 11, finds a hidden work in the puzzle "Frankenstein: The Monster Hit" word search. Sarah's mother, Lily Wu, is a visiting scholar at ASU. The university's schools invites the public in to see, touch, hear, feel and sometimes taste amazing projects, and encourage young students to imagine themselves in college in the future.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Elliot Flores, 5, and his sister Sofia, 7, build Lego houses for an urban-planning map of the city of Tempe.
Photo by Anya Magnuson/ASU Now
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Ten-year-old twins Santiago (left) and Sebastian Flores are fascinated by a Madagascar hissing cockroach in the Life Sciences Center. Their mother works in the registrar's office.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Liam Murphy (left), 7, and his friend Ethan Munro, 6, try to figure out a performance artist at Emerge 2017 Frankenstein: A Festival of Futures. The boys' parents are all ASU alumni. Emerge is ASU's annual transmedia art, science and technology festival, held this year in conjunction with Night of the Open Door.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Capricia Shaw-Roach, 6, and her mother, Amy Shaw, are a little excited that the Sorting Hat assigned Capricia to Ravenclaw House in a Harry Potter-themed workshop during Night of the Open Door.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Lauren Lane, 10, celebrates her correct guess in a trivia game hosted by the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication. Her mother, Jennifer (left), used to teach educational technology at ASU.
Photo by Anya Magnuson/ASU Now
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(From left) Gabbi Stadler, Annalina Curran and Olivia Martinez paint boxes as part of a time-capsule project hosted by the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies. They all attend Dobson High and plan on coming to ASU when they graduate.
Photo by Anya Magnuson/ASU Now
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The LogaRythyms play the Pink Panther tune during Night of the Open Door on the Tempe campus Saturday afternoon. The band, loosely made up of ASU math students, faculty and alumni, showcases how music and mathematics are connected in fundamental ways.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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Eight-year-old Vianna Colazo and five other young ballet folklorico dancers with Instituto de Folklor Mexicano perform in front of the Language and Literature building on the Tempe campus Saturday.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Families stream through Physical Sciences F building during Night of the Open Door on the Tempe campus Saturday.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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A tentative Charlotte Spiro, 9, cautiously touches a rosy boa in the "Live Snakes" exhibit of the Life Sciences Center. It felt smooth and scaly, according to the member of the Sun Devil Junior Spirit Squad.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Ten-year-old Sophia Belger of Chandler shows off her newly henna-painted finger to her mother, Christine Belger, works at ASU in the Department of Psychology and the Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Miriam Siroky types out her "story" about School of Earth and Space Exploration professor Jennifer Patience at the ASU Now "Make Headlines and Earn Your Press Badge!" activity during Night of the Open Door on Tempe campus.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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Makayla Byne, 11, stamps her handprint on a map of North and South America created by students in the ASU School of Transborder Studies.
Photo by Anya Magnuson/ASU Now
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Aryana Patel blows on a glass to hear a sound at the Physical Sciences building during Night of the Open Door on the Tempe campus.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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Diego Vazquez inspects a bee farm on display at Life Sciences C building during Night of the Open Door on the Tempe campus Saturday.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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Masters student Hira Rehman, 23, with the U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy demonstrates a solar-powered car using flashlights during Night of the Open Door on the Tempe campus on Saturday. Rehman hails from Peshawar, Pakistan.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
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Exchange student Satomi Ogiso, from Namzam University in Nagoya, Japan, shows Shannon Nez, 14, her first name in Japanese calligraphy. Ogiso is a junior in liberal arts studies, and Nez is a freshman at Westwood High School in Mesa and is hoping to attend ASU in a few years.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now
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Zied Alghamdi (left), the president of the ASU Saudi Students Club, sits with graphic information technology freshman Ashley Carpenter, who is wearing traditional clothing from Saudi Arabia.
Photo by Anya Magnuson/ASU Now
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Erick Martin and his two sons, Freddy (left) and August, take a break between activities during Night of the Open Door on the Tempe campus Saturday.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now
Check out the Night of the Open Door at the earlier events this month:
The fun and learning aren't over
Night of the Open Door may be finished for this year, but ASU's campuses still offer lots of talks, demonstrations, film screenings and more — many of which are free and open to the public. Visit the ASU Events site at asuevents.asu.edu for more information.
And each autumn, ASU's Homecoming celebration welcomes the public onto the Tempe campus, where more than 100 departments and organizations offer interactive fun and learning. See scenes from the 2016 event here.
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