Saint Mary's University
National Chemistry Week Activities

“So ….. if it’s that cold …. why isn’t it a so lid?” asked a thoughtful wide-eyed grade six student about liquid nitrogen as he observed fat balloons slowly shrink and sink into a silvery flask with a bubbling brew of veeery cold liquid - twenty times colder than a cold winter’s day!  As part of our National Chemistry Week activities, Saint Mary’s University Student Chemistry Society leader, Chris Corbeil, accompanied me across the street to Inglis Street Elementary School for a planned hour of chemistry fun with two grade six classes. After 90 minutes the bell sounded for recess and our appreciative audience needed no prompting from their teachers to thank us. Arms full with two Rubbermaid ‘tickle trunks”, as I have come to call them, we returned to the Science building, Chris still in his impressive white lab coat, saying “Actually, you know what? That was a lot of fun!” And so with uninhibited expressions of impression and awe we were happy to share our enthusiasm for science with these children whose classroom faces our S.M.U. Science Building.

It was time for both little and big folk to be childlike the following weekend, as we spread our science zeal to the community, hosting a tour of the Discovery Center in Halifax for a group from our local Big Brother Big Sister club. SMU Chemistry Student Society members, Katy Kelley and Rory Chisholm, showed their spirit and happily gave a Sunday afternoon to join me. You don’t have to be little to be impressed by immense soap bubbles that enclose you, and you don’t look silly obviously enjoying a spin on the gravity chair. Everybody is a kid at the Discovery Center!

Anticipation for our final event precipitated some friendly rivalry in our Chemistry Department. Students and faculty combined their chemistry trivia savvy and feuded for first place honours in the First (Annual?) Chemistry Feud game show hosted by Chris Corbeil. Four teams, each fortified with a hand-picked faculty member, tried to turn out the top answers as determined by my surveyed first-year General Chemistry for the Life Sciences students. 

In the end it was the Benzene-Ringers with Dr. Keith Vaughan that had the best yield in the competition.  Survey says:    National Chemistry Week 2002 was a success!

Kathy Singfield
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Saint Mary’s University

Return to 2002 Activities