Chem Demos Welcomes Hillside Fifth Graders Over Regents Week

On January 23rd, Chem Demos held its annual demonstration of experiments for Niskayuna’s youngest chemists! This year, Chem Demos welcomed Hillside fifth graders for a three-part demonstration. To show off all the fun experiments prepared, Chem Demos advisor Mrs. Paquette split the event into three classrooms, each with a different theme: introduction to chemistry, acids and bases, and energy. The Hillside Fifth graders completed all the tasks set for them in each of the three classrooms. 

This year's meeting was especially anticipated, since Chem Demos has not been able to host an event like this in over 2 years due to the pandemic. The last Regents week fifth grade event was held in January 2020. Vice President and senior Pallavi Datta expressed that “it was amazing to finally be able to put together an event like this again after the pandemic.” The event was very successful and a fulfilling experience for both the Hillside students and the Chem Demos members. Historian and senior Grace Berry says she “enjoyed being there and creating such an amazing learning environment for those kids.”

Chem Demos was not founded to simply make lectures for children sitting in a classroom; through its programs, the club strives to engage with children through interactive experiments and lessons. Datta explained that “when structuring the presentations, we wanted to include hands-on experiments for the students to try and connect the scientific concepts to common phenomena and household chemicals.” Chem Demos wants to show young students that chemistry is more than just memorizing and reading textbooks. As Datta emphasized, “chemistry is relevant, exciting, and fun.”

Overall, it was a great start to in-person events for the club, and Chem Demos hopes to hold more events this year!