The Future is Bright

[For all visitors who are visiting my blog for the first time, you should read my first blog, which was in May, to understand the purpose of my blog. Enjoy your visit here!]

As you can see from my previous blog, which shows the actual evaluations from the kids at my science camp, I enjoyed my time with these awesome, smart and energetic middle schoolers. I can’t believe that I had felt apprehensive going into this camp. I know that we had the brightest kids, which makes a difference. These kids actually care about science and are excited.

One of the favorite activities for these kids was making slim. Who doesn't like slimmy gooey green stuff? One boy discovered that the slime is very elastic, so he took it upon himself to place it in his shirt to simulate an artificial heart. When I asked, "What can you make with polymers?" he said, “I want to make the next artificial heart!” I was pleasantly surprised by his ambition. Then I reflected… you know, these kids will one day be the next great scientist and leader. I am glad that this science camp could open up their minds to discover things to which they probably have never given a thought.

The second most exciting event of the day was making root beer with dry ice. I had seen this experiment when I was in 6th grade and decided that it was the greatest thing ever! The kids obviously thought so too. When I placed the dry ice into the root beer syrup, it began to fuzz and bubble. A giant cloud of fog flew out of the tall cooler, just like a witch’s brew. I could see the eyes grow bigger and bigger as they focused in on the carbonation process. There were "wooohs" and "ahhhs" all around the room. When the bubbling finally died down, everyone lined up to taste the home-made root beer—even the kids who don’t like root beer. One kid said, “This is like 10 times better than the root beer I have at home!” Haha, this must be the I-can’t-believe-that-I-just-made-root-beer factor.

I distinctly remember one boy walking up to me and said, “How much was the dry ice?” “Um, about $1.50 a pound,” I replied. “Oooooooh!” The boys’ eyes grew round, and they turned to each other, “I have $500… We can start our own root beer company, and we can name it the JZB Root Beer for each of our names!” I was so tickled by the idea of their own root beer company.

Teaching these kids also meant being a part of their lives. But listening to what they have to go through in life really shocked me. For example, I heard that some of the kids come to school after walking on the streets for an entire night! If they can go through something like this and triumph, then they are my heros.

I am glad that Duke students can be role models for these kids. Maybe if they know that someone has broken barriers that they think are impossible to break, then they will think that they can break them too.