There is an old saying is that “April showers bring May flowers”. That was certainly true this year with respect to the many showers. April also brings a month of science outreach for students. Our section participated in two large outreach events and hosted two smaller events. I estimate that over 3000 students did a science experiment or 3 with us this month.
The main event that Silicon Valley ACS hosts for Chemists Celebrate Earth Week, is a multiple station chemistry outreach that we do at the Martin Luther King Children’s Library in San Jose. This year we elaborated on the CCEW theme: Into the woods with chemistry and we had activities involving tree “cookies” showing tree internal structure and growth, capillary action and water surface tension, paper chromatography of ink and the always popular dry ice “Boo bubbles”. The chemistry clubs and students from San Jose State and Santa Clara Universities volunteer their time to make this a great event. A big thank you is also due to Bridget Kowalczyk, Librarian at the Children’s Library for her support and her advertising campaign. We had our biggest turnout since Covid with about 300 people attending.
This was our fifth year exhibiting at P.I.E.F.E.S.T (Pacific Islanders encouraging fun, Engineering, Science & Technology). P.I.E.F.E.S.T. is dedicated to improving Pacific Islander representation and increasing access to STEM related careers. Each year, this festival has grown in size and content. This year it was held at the San Mateo County convention hall and had over 3000 people attend. This year, they had added cultural dances from the Pacific Islands which made it especially fun. Jigisha Shah, Aneelman Brar, Mohit Saraswat and I made dry ice “Boo Bubbles”, and used some of the experiments suggests for CCEW to demonstrate chemistry in the forests.
We also participated in the Santa Clara STEM Zone: Where Silicon Valley Sparks Innovation and Fun! This was a new event held by the City of Santa Clara, and the Santa Clara city library intended to build on the momentum of the Super Bowl and FIFA world cup events held in Santa Clara in 2026. This event included workshops, lectures, and many different science and technology tables. Our table was sandwiched between one hosted by the SF 49ers where participants explored helmet technology and made face guards out of pipe cleaners, a Santa Clara University FI racing team and a host of StarWars inspired robots. Amanda Nelson, Omer Sultan, and some Santa Clara library volunteers spent 6 hours showing the students how milk fats are disrupted by dishwashing soap (“Colors on the Move”) and did paper chromatography of different ink pens. The organizers estimated that over 7000 people attended, although they might not have all stopped at our table.
Luckily, May has arrived and the ACS volunteers can take a break from outreach events until October’s National Chemistry Week. These events are wonderfully fun and the smiles of the young students help give me optimism regarding the future. But I am happy for a few weekends without any chemistry events.
Respectfully submitted
Natalie McClure
