MMC Students Volunteer at Science Saturday

On Saturday, May 4, seven MMC Biology majors formed part of the RockEdu team’s Science Saturday at Rockefeller University. Science Saturday is an annual science outreach event where scientists in NYC share interactive learning stations in biology, chemistry, and math. This year, more than 1,000 children in grades K-8 attended the event. Our volunteers included freshman Shade Eleazer and sophomores Hailey Gallegos, Elena Markovitz, Ashley Pavia, Noelia Tavarez, Victoria Whalen, and Will Wyatt, all students in general and organic chemistry this semester. These students have been volunteering their time for the past month to work with Ashley Pirovano, Adjunct Instructor of Chemistry, to develop a chemistry-themed learning station called Molecular Madness.

The MMC volunteers guided the children, their parents, and teachers through a series of hands-on activities to demonstrate the connection between molecular shape and the properties of chemical substances. The students expertly tailored their teaching and discussion points to the wide array of audiences and had a blast doing it! The communication skills of the MMC undergraduates were so impressive that many parents asked if they were graduate students.

For information on how to get involved in science outreach in NYC, please contact MMC alumna Ashley Pirovano ’13, who is a Community Scientist with BioBus, a local non-profit dedicated to science outreach.