EAC Chemistry Adventure brings students to campus
By Jeanné Schaser
THATCHER, AZ—Eastern Arizona College’s Chemistry Department hosted the 18th Annual Student Chemistry Adventure on March 30. More than sixty high school students from Duncan, Globe, Morenci, Pima, Safford, Thatcher, and Willcox came together to form 17 teams for this all-day event, organized by EAC Chemistry instructors Joel Shelton and Michael Neary.
To start off the morning, Phil McBride, dean of instruction, formally welcomed the participants and their teachers. Gary Sorensen, dean of student life, followed by taking a few minutes to showcase the College and describe the academic and extracurricular possibilities available to the students at EAC.
“The students began the competition with a laboratory experiment to determine the freezing point of an inexpensive cleaner, such as PEAK® windshield cleaner rated at 0°F,” explained McBride. “Teams were graded on laboratory technique, calculations, graphs, safety, and accuracy.”
“The competition continued with a team event where students determined the mass percent of copper (II) sulfate in a solution, determined the boiling point of methanol, experimented with potassium iodide solutions, determined the chloride content of sodium and calcium, and made some beautiful green slime,” continues McBride. “The third event involved teams answering questions on a variety of chemistry concepts.”
While the results were being tabulated, EAC’s Organic Chemistry students dazzled the high school students with an array of colorful, loud, bright, and exciting chemical exhibitions (pictured.) Dave Parnell, chemistry teacher from Willcox, added his own exciting demonstration as well.
Awards were presented at the end of the event. Below are the top three teams:
First Place: Theta 5 from Thatcher:
Dallin Green
Kaylee Griffin
Travis Skinner
Bryan Smith
Michael Ziccarelli
Second Place: Steroisomers from Willcox
Arturo Guillen
Cody Harris
Griselda Hernandez
Carolina Valencia
Third Place: Quaternaries from Safford
Jessica Clonts
Sam Doctor
Geoffrey Hillman
Katie Larson
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