The faces of the middle school students light up as glow-in-the-dark liquids illuminate the classroom and bright, colorful fires burn.
This is the Science Outreach Club.
Science Outreach gives high schoolers the opportunity to present science-related demonstrations to younger students.
“This club introduces kids to things they’ve never seen or heard of,” senior Emily Huff said. “We let them know that when they’re in high school, they can join the club and do all these experiments and more.”
The purpose of the club is to get the younger students interested in science. For club members, interaction with the children is key.
“My favorite part of the club is seeing the younger kids’ reactions when we do all of the demos in front of them,” Huff said. “I love working with children. They’re always enthusiastic, which helps both us and them have more fun learning.”
The club meets every Thursday to discuss what kind of demonstrations they will do for the next presentation. The amount of presentations vary each month and there are field trips about once a month.
“I learned a lot of the demos we do in AP Chemistry, but we try to look up new demos we’ve never heard of so I learn a lot about those and more about chemistry in general,” Huff said. “We just try to figure out which experiments are the most interesting.”
Club sponsor Charlena Sieve said members learn many different skills.
“They obviously learn the theory behind scientific experiments but they also learn other things like how to get along with others, tolerance, presentation skills,” she said. “Hopefully, they become interested in science careers along the way.”
Huff’s interest in the medical field was the reason for her joining the club.
“I joined because I love science, so I figured the more I learn, the better off I’ll be,” Huff said. “It’s also just a fun club to be involved in. It’s exciting, entertaining, interesting and a good way to meet other people and learn more about science in general.”
Sieve said that any kind of student can join the club.
“So many students have embraced Science Outreach,” Sieve said. “It captures the interest of all kinds of students.”
by Emily Brown
