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Chapter 10. Education and Outreach

Kindergarten through Grade Twelve (K-12) Outreach

Rosella Chavez remembers a strong commitment from Sievers to engaging younger students in science, but working with younger students was a different proposition than working with undergraduates.

Early when CIRES moved into the renovated portion, Bob called me in the office and asked me if I would be willing to start an outreach program involving visitations from junior high students because he felt it was important to reach students early in their careers, before high school and he wanted to get more young women motivated or exposed to science.... I would put out a notice 'We have a group of students coming, would you like to give a presentation?' ... and that's how it all started. When I first sent the notice out, I had a huge response and everyone was interested, but then when it came down to actually getting programs set for that age level it turned out to be a little harder. We had Brown Cloud in a Jar, and the Electric Pickle and something with salt, that would form crystals. At one point we had a large group come in and Bob and some of his students told how they got into the scientific area. It was really interesting to see that people didn't have science or chemistry as the love of their life from early on, one of Bob's students had even dropped out of high school. For the students we were entertaining, it was good for them to see that you didn't have to be a brainiac from day one.

A core group of scientists and graduate students contributed on a volunteer basis, including the Sievers students presenting atmospheric chemistry and Hartmut Spetzler providing geology activities. Over time, Rosella developed ties with the University President's Leadership campaign, which brought groups of up to 180 at-risk middle school students at a time for campus visits.

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