BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Middle school students are spending part of their summer break at Creighton University, doing hands-on chemistry experiments and building skills they could apply towards future endeavors in STEM.
For the campers, the experience is a far cry from textbooks and homework assignments.
"I just thought that the chemistry was cool," Emmanuel Dossu, a camper, said.
Eric Villa, the Creighton University chemistry professor who runs the program, said the goal is to make learning more engaging.
"Trying to give students hands on activities they can do to explore chemistry...understand chemistry a little better...and mostly just make things with pretty colors in them," Villa said.
Creighton students are also helping guide the young scientists through the program. Jade Varguez, a biology and studio art major, is one of the instructors.
"There's a lack of understanding between what the scientific community does and the general public...people know that scientists exist, but they don't know how much of a big impact they have on their daily lives," Varguez said.
Varguez said that disconnect is what drives her to teach students. She also draws on her own experience with a similar Creighton program.
"It really gave me a sense of where I could go with a career in chemistry...and before that I hadn't even considered being a chemist," Varguez said.
For the campers, the biggest takeaway may be learning how to see chemistry — and science — in the world around them.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
