Early Traction!
December has been good. On top of Midyear Exams and an extensive Ski Trip, we found time to run two Spark Sessions: One at Jackson Walnut Park, my primary school, and a second at Buds and Blossoms, a Mandarin-immersion Daycare in Chinatown. In addition, we’ve recruited a ton of friends and can’t wait to expand our reach to more locations.
Returning to Jackson
Before we get into the visit, let me tell you a bit about JWP. I enrolled at Jackson in the middle of third grade, right after my family’s move into our current home. My first day happened to land on Ash Wednesday, a “special day” for which my non-denominational upbringing left me duly unprepared. To be fair, my mother had briefed me on the way to school about the new “Catholic” ordeal, however between my nerves and an intimidating photograph of Jesus on the Cross, I did not recollect much.
Given the in media res nature of my enrollment, I was to arrive a half-hour early for a meeting with “Mrs. Susan G. Niden, Elementary Principal.” I have to say, after all these years, I still recall watching the second hand tick to Zero, and the minute hand hit Six.
Soon, the door opened. My qualms about that dark oak mahogany dissipated into the most reassuring of smiles. Since I (coincidentally) read this passage last night, I have to quote it:
It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four of five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald).
“Nice to meet you, Eric. Want to talk about your day?”
Now beaming, I took the lead into Mrs. Niden’s office. As she began to explain the various going-ons at JWP, I felt my entire body loosen. By the end of those 30 minutes, I looked forward to even the most mundane of activities.
That warmth continued through the end of the morning, afternoon mass, the end of the week, the month, and, quite honestly, my entire stay past 6th grade. Ms. Vegas gave me complete freedom in the STEAM lab, Ms. Friel encouraged my exploration of Greek mythology, and Sister Kathy toughened me up for RL. In many ways, the kind, patient, and exciting environment that I experienced at Jackson is the one that we want to create, and bring to schools across the United States, with Spark for Science.
Back to the visit. After catching up with past teachers, Andrew and I set up our four demonstrations in Kids’ Corner
Since Jackson’s after school program had a no-photo policy, I thought this photo of me from third grade would suffice!
It was great to see Ms. Friel, Ms. Polli, and Ms. Sullivan again.
Let’s just say, it’s GOOD to be back. When Clarissa first replied to our outreach email, I was overjoyed to be so warmly welcomed back into Jackson’s incredible school community — this time, as an alumnus! We met with a group of twenty kids from grades 2-6. They loved all of the experiments, but our magic colors and disappearing water tricks were the clear favorites. The kids couldn’t believe that we could make water change into several distinct colors–red, aqua, purple, green and yellow–all using ph. To help the kids understand this phenomenon, we made the analogy of acids to a lemon and bases to soap. Next, we played a game with red solo cups and made water disappear! The trick was to put sodium polyacrylate in the bottom of one of the cups. When we poured the water into this cup, the material (which we got from babies’ diapers) absorbed all the water. Thus, when we flipped the cup to pour everything out, nothing precipitated and the kids were astonished! After explaining each of the tricks to our inquisitive listeners, we broke into groups where the kids made their own color-changing rings and lava lamps. The kids loved making their rings and told us they would trick their parents with them later. Overall, it was a great time for us and the kids. We even got invited to a birthday party! It was clear that the students learned very much and enjoyed this experience exploring science!
