Waynesburg University science day introduces high school students to the field
Dr. Evonne Baldauff hopes chemical reactions, high-tech instruments and fiery solutions can win the hearts of students and prompt them to pursue a career in science.
The Waynesburg University associate chemistry professor and chair of the school’s chemistry and forensic science department is the organizer of Science Day, an event held each spring on Waynesburg’s campus to introduce high school students to a myriad of science disciplines taught within the walls of Paul R. Stewart Science Hall.
“Overall, we want them to see that science is a great field study. An undergraduate degree in science will set you up for a career in all types of fields,” said Baldauff.
Open to high schools across Fayette, Greene and Washington counties, the annual event was started the 1990s to spark students’ interest in science.
While college faculty once traveled to area schools to perform demonstrations, the university began bringing students to campus for Science Day 15 years ago to allow them to experience a college environment, explained Baldauff.
“We try to plan the day as a way for them to see themselves as science students,” she said.
“We want to give them some experience doing things they maybe haven’t seen before due to the limitation of resources available (in schools).”
In conjunction with the Waynesburg student chapter of the American Chemical Society, the Department of Chemistry and Forensic Science hosted 60 students from three regional high schools — Waynesburg Central, Trinity and Washington — in April as they attended sessions taught by college faculty members.
Students attended presentations and participated in hands-on lessons in branches of study such as biochemistry, physiology, computer programming and forensic analysis.
Baldauff, for instance, in an exercise on chemical reactions, walked students through an experiment that used the electrons in salt and lemon juice to complete a circuit that fueled a battery to make a clock tick.
She gave faculty members the freedom to plan lessons at their own discretion that presented the science at a level that the high school students could readily understand.
In Brad Davis’ chemistry analysis session, students used a spectrophotometer to identify compounds in unidentified powders by measuring their light beams.
“In middle schools and high schools, a lot of the labs don’t have a lot of instruments to work with,” said Davis, an assistant professor of chemistry at Waynesburg.
“Coming here to the school they can see the instrumentation of it, get a little hands on and see what it’s like to work in a higher-tech lab.”
Baldauff said part of the program is to talk to students about what they can do if they major in a science discipline.
She said she has seen students attend Waynesburg University because they experienced Science Day while in high school.
“Hopefully the exposure to those things will, if not clarify what a chemist does, get them interested in finding out,” she said.
“If they walk away saying ‘science is more cool than I thought it was,’ it would be good first step.”