ST. CHARLES BORROMEO SCHOOL
FIRST GRADE CHEMISTRY
POST SCRIPT.... since Angie visited 1A, she has graduated from Lafayette College and IS now a Chemical Engineer. She received her Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware in May 2004 and is currently working as a scientist in research and development. She lives in Montvale NJ .
On May
18th, Angie Kulbick, a chemical engineering major at Lafayette
College,
revisited her first grade classroom and first grade teacher at
St. Charles Borromeo School.
After 14 years, Sister Marcia and the students of 1A looked
surprisingly the same.
Although the faces had changed their enthusiasm for learning was
much the same as she had remembered it.
Angie was invited to the classroom by Sr. Marcia, to teach the
class a science lesson about polymers.
Angie explained that polymers are very important to chemical
engineers.
They are used to make many of the products we use everyday (like
computer cases)!
Angie explained how polymers can be strettttttttttttched but can
also
break suddenly when pulled to their limit. She demonstrated this
concept by
having the students link arms and stretch themselves apart.
When they were pulled from either end, the middle links broke.
After
learning about polymers, the students were ready to become
chemists themselves.
Angie gave each student a bowl, a spoon, and two cups containing
two separate solutions.
Each
student selected a color and two drops of food coloring were
added to one of the cups. After stirring the colored mixture,
they combined the two solutions. Almost magically a solution very
similar to the manufactured product "Gak" formed! The
children then poured their solution into the bowl and began to
knead the polymer until it became a "silly putty" like
ball. The children could stretch the polymer and see for
themselves how it would break. If the ball was left on their desk
it would turn back into a "slime" like consistency.
This was their first lesson on chemical reactions.
Angie is a 1998 graduate of Holy Cross High School in Delran, NJ. In September, Angie will be a senior at Lafayette. She is a Marquis Scholar at the college. This summer she has an internship at Rohm and Haas in Springhouse, Pa.
As she told the first grade students, when she attended St. Charles, her favorite subjects were science and math. By working hard and having fun with their favorite subjects she thought some day they might return to 1A too!
