This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Women of Science at Bloom High School

Several student from Bloom HS participated in a personalized and professional day of science at Governors State University.

On Tuesday, June 5th, nine students scheduled to take Advanced Placement Chemistry and/or Honors Physics with Mr.Barry Latham next year, met at Governors State University for a “Day of Science.” Several days after school was dismissed for the summer, these students elected to give up a day of vacation to continue their pursuit of science. Dr. Karen D’Arcy organized a team of professors and researchers to volunteer an hour or two of their time to teach Mr. Latham’s students about their work.

Their busy Day of Science began in a classroom with a discussion of safety, enrollment after graduation as college freshmen, and the differences between college and high school. They moved from there to the chemistry lab to work on a waste protocol for eliminating acidic copper waste from GSU’s well-known Penny Project. The students added a sodium hydroxide solution to the waste until a precipitate formed, which could then be filtered out. Due to the volume of liquid waste, it would cost thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars to dispose of it. If only precipitate is collected, it will cost hundreds of dollars. The remaining liquid can be safely dumped down the drain.

The students were given a tour of the gross anatomy lab. Although they were not able to view the cadavers, the professor explained some of the hands-on activities that take place in her lab and what kind of fields of work call for taking a class like this. Dr. Walt Henne then gave them a tour of his lab, where he studies proteins and performs cancer research. The students were even able to see a demonstration of the effects of liquid nitrogen on balloons and dog chew toys.

Find out what's happening in Chicago Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the afternoon, Dr. D’Arcy gave a tour of her Atomic Absorbtion Spectroscopy lab as well. With this lab, the filtrate from the copper precipitation was analyzed and determined to have 1-5ppm copper remaining, which is within the tolerance to dispose of it down the drain while flushing with water.

Not all of the Science occurred inside that day, though. Dr Timothy Gsell took the students outside to collect pond water. These samples were viewed with his fluorescent microscope to help identify the organisms and even see into the cellular structure to identify nuclei, mitochondria, and see a few cells dividing!

Find out what's happening in Chicago Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The final event of the day was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. The planet Venus passed between the Earth and the Sun and was viewable with a modified telescope. At 5PM CST, the Transit of Venus began and was viewable until sunset. It concluded at 10PM CST.

The group of students that attended, Gabby, Tabitha, Alyssa, Gina, Kayla, Kailyn, Kelly, Angelina, and Janice, are some of the best and brightest that Bloom has to offer. It is no wonder that they were in attendance and it will be no wonder when they all move on to greatness after graduating from Bloom High School in 2013.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?