shs receives $10,000 for chemistry lab

By Kimberly Hood

Seymour High School’s chemistry lab is sporting a makeover, courtesy of a $10,000 grant from UT-Battelle in conjunction with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The excitement was evident in chemistry teacher Kristi McCord’s voice as she talked about the transformation that her classroom has seen as the result of the grant.

“With the grant money we were able to add three double-sided sinks that help out a whole lot. And then, we got a safety shower and eyewash installed – which we hope we never have to use, but are really glad they’re there!” she said, laughing.

McCord said that before the grant money, there were only three sinks in the classroom, making the sink-to-student ratio far too high to be efficient. With class sizes ranging from the mid 20s to low 30s, students would often spend as much time waiting for water and standing in line to wash lab equipment as they would conducting an experiment. With the addition of the double-sided sinks, there are nine stations that have access to water, allowing smaller lab groups and more hands-on experience for students.

“Now we can get a whole lot more done, and we can move much faster. It’s much better all around,” said McCord.

State Representative and former UT-Battelle employee Richard Montgomery was on hand for the presentation of the check. Montgomery said with math and science scores typically dragging behind those of other subjects, it’s very important to have the proper equipment in high schools so that students are adequately prepared for college.

Both he and McCord shared similar stories of finding themselves in college chemistry classes with no previous chemistry education and struggling to catch up. However, during their classes, they both fell in love with science as a result of hands-on experience and practical application they gained in the lab.

They both hope that the additional hands-on experience SHS students will receive as a result of the grant money will create more interest in science.

“Science is an area that we’ve really been putting emphasis on because if you look at test scores from previous years science is an area that has been kind of lacking. So that’s why corporations want to get more equipment in, so you can get more children involved in science. That’s why Oak Ridge is so involved in this, and it’s important to them,” said Montgomery.

“Science has got to be hands-on. If science isn’t hands-on, it’s not going to stick. If you can get kids back there, and they can actually do it and see it work it keeps them more involved in class and creates an interest,” said McCord.

McCord also said that while class sizes in both Chemistry 1 and 2 have been growing over recent semesters, there will likely be a tremendous increase in class sizes next year when students will be required to take either physics or chemistry in order to graduate.

With the anticipation of even larger classes, McCord is relieved to have more lab stations and hopes between the new graduation requirement and increased hands-on experience more students will consider science seriously during their time at Seymour High School.