Dear College of Science Faculty and Staff,
This is a story I told last Saturday at a wonderful Bridge to Calculus mini-conference.
“You know, something that set me on a path to science and ignited my love of universities was a regional high school science club with a long title – the ‘Witwatersrand High School Science Association’. Once a month we went to the local university for an afternoon, and every school vacation there was a weeklong program.
On the afternoons at the university, we’d get a talk and a tour. The electron microscope facility, where a professor would explain how it worked and what it was used for. We saw the Chemistry building, and the explosion chamber on the roof where the most dangerous chemicals were stored. We saw the Botany greenhouses and insect collections in the Zoology department.
Over the vacation, there were trips to factories and facilities – Ponds cosmetics where Vaseline was purified; Simba Chips where we were somehow allowed to help ourselves to the potato chips as they came out of huge fryers; African Oxygen that made fertilizer and had a billboard showing how many days had gone by without an explosion; and Pelindaba, the nuclear energy hub that made isotopes for medical use. I’ve never forgotten those visits and the excitement of learning how powerful and useful science could be.
But perhaps the best thing was walking the halls of the science buildings at the university and seeing the black painted doors with frosted glass windows. It seemed to me that magic took place behind those windows. Universities still have that magic for me, uncovering, teaching and using brilliant, unexpected knowledge. Today, in the College of Science, we are building out the vision of the Good Power of Science, in education and research.
I loved Science club. At the all-girls school I attended, liking science was unusual. But at the club we could be wildly enthusiastic together, and it gave me belonging into an interested, friendly group. Also, you got a badge if you joined, a shield shape with atomic orbitals in brass on a red and blue background. I wore the badge every day pinned to my school uniform. Last night, amazingly, I found the badge, carried all the way from Johannesburg to the United States. It was so nice to see it. But there was more - when I turned the badge over, I saw that the pin had been re-attached with solder. I didn’t remember, but that was for sure the work of my Dad, always handy with his soldering iron, fixing things. My Dad has been gone many years, but I felt his help and love right there on that badge.”
And I said to the conference participants from Northeastern and the Boston Public Schools (BPS): “We are thrilled to partner and bring the Good Power of Science to BPS students. Science subjects can seem terrifying, but we know that science is useful, not scary, and science training is a fantastic way for a student to gain entry into a vast set of excellent careers.
Congratulations to the Northeastern Math department, Chair Dr. Egon Schulte, Dr. Bindu Veteel and Raj Jesudason who organize Bridge to Calculus. Thank you to our speakers today: Joyce Bowen BPS STE Director, Dr. Kelly Con (CPS), and Dr. Vaso Lykourino (Chemistry and Chemical Biology). Thank you to College of Science faculty colleagues who are building Bridge to Science programs, even on a Saturday, and to Associate Dean Randall Hughes. Thank you!
I’m delighted to confirm College of Science commitment to extend Bridge to Calculus into Bridge to Science, expanding through Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The Program is funded from the College, philanthropy, BPS and Boston funds. Thank you everyone for making these important connections between our Northeastern University College of Science and the Boston Public Schools.”