The Fall 2016 Semester is nearly starting to wrap up at Sacramento City College (SCC), and the SCC ACS Chemistry Club has done its best to use the semester for finding a number of engaging activities for student members to take part in. Continuing from the Chemistry Club’s previous events, a few more special endeavors worth pointing out included many members participating in the SCC Centennial Chemistry Magic Show, hosting its first ACS Program-in-a-Box Seminar, and showcasing a humble, faculty-directed National Chemistry Week table.
A progression of just one of the many demonstrations at the Chemistry Magic Show. Seen here is the combustion of magnesium with carbon dioxide, a useful demonstration for explaining why fire extinguishers that use CO2 may not be useful for all types of fires.
Working in conjunction with the Sacramento City College Chemistry Department, the Chemistry Club helped to take part in the Chemistry Magic Show, a large-scale collection of experiments demonstrated as one of the main attractions for the 100-Year Open House and Fair in celebration of the college centennial. Many club members were directly involved by showing off an assigned chemistry demonstration. With a filled-out makeshift auditorium, this event had a rather large audience! Not only that, but each set of demonstrations was planned for two showings in order to accommodate the high demand to see this popular screening! As this presentation welcomed guests of all ages, many younger spectators were simply left awestruck at some of the more explosive demonstrations, and with any luck, perhaps this magic show will be the catalyst that initiates a young chemist’s career path!
Program-in-a-Box attendees posing for a group photo. #ACSPIB
On October 11, 2016, the Chemistry Club held its very first Program-in-a-Box Seminar, courtesy of the American Chemical Society. What exactly is Program-in-a-Box? Every few months or so, a real-time web-hosted seminar (webinar) is held by the ACS, and resources such as flyers, gifts, and educational worksheets are distributed to participating groups within a packaged box. The SCC ACS Chemistry Club elected to participate in the October 2016 seminar titled “The Chemists’ Code for Success: 3 Essential Skill Sets for Your Career,” which focused on reinforcing professional skills that are useful in the chemistry field. Because all attendees were students of chemistry or one of its sister sciences, this seminar was especially pertinent for the prospective future workplaces in store for these attendees. Plus, some really cool prizes were raffled out at the end of the seminar!
A faculty appreciation poster, along with some American Chemical Society goodies
Finally, National Chemistry Week occurred between October 16th and 22nd. In order to make use of the week, the Chemistry Club wanted to give back to the irreplaceable, hardworking chemistry faculty at Sacramento City College by collecting appreciation from students. All week long, a blank poster sat atop a small table, encouraging students to share their gratitude for the faculty. This table also provided students with some goodies from the ACS, to give thanks for giving thanks. Student participation turned out to be so abundant that both sides of the poster were filled out in just a couple of days!
The semester is not finished just yet, and the SCC ACS Chemistry Club hopes to squeeze in a few more activities before the academic break commences for the winter!
