Every Friday as I walk through the halls of Piedmont Elementary School towards Mrs. KP’s 1st grade class, the halls echo with the sound of little voices singing, “It’s Super Science Friday hurrah, hurrah….It’s Super Science Friday hurrah, hurrah.” It’s a catchy little song and every time I hear it, I catch myself singing it in my head. Of course I wouldn’t dare to sing it out loud for two reasons. Reason 1, I can’t sing a note on pitch if my life depends on it. Ask my wife, she would classify me as tone deaf. Second reason is that usually I am with a couple of classmates and I don’t dare let out the secret that I AM really tone deaf.
A little background on why I’m strolling the halls of an Elementary School this late in my educational career. My wife currently is a Student Success Advocate with True North which is a program under AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps is like the Peace Corps but in the United States and helps students that are struggling in schools. Well one of her responsibilities is to find volunteers for the school she works at. One of the 1st grade teachers is a real science fanatic and every Friday she teaches science lessons to her class and a 3rd grade class. She does this by having them do experiences to reinforce science concepts like motion, force, mass, and other fundamentals. Due to the natural of science and “little Scientists,” she needed volunteers to help her out. Long story short, I was task to help out and find other people to help out.
At first, I wasn’t too sure how this would go. I do science experiments with my nephew Austin when I go home to visit and they don’t always go smoothy as I want them to go. He is a 5th grader and it’s always one on one when we do these experiments. I wasn’t sure if I could handle 40 students for 3hrs (20 1st and 20 3rd graders) in a classroom. Well to tell you the truth, I ‘m glad that I took on the challenge. It is really rewarding for me to see 40 students get excited for science. They look forward to us coming to help them with their experiments because they get to interact with “real Scientists” as they call us. Being called a “Scientist” was weird at first but it was true. I do have a degree in chemistry and most of my classmates that help out have a science degree. We also wear white lab coats when we volunteer. Helping out on Fridays remind me of why I LOVE science and I get excited every time Friday rolls around myself. Some of the things we have done during Super Science Fridays are: Tye Dying shirts for Super Science Fridays, Buttons in a Balloon to study centrifugal force, LifeSavers pendulum, egg drops, and tornadoes out of pop bottle to name a few.
Helping out during Super Science Fridays has been an awesome experience for me. It takes two things that I enjoy (science and volunteering) and combines them into something that is worthwhile and rewarding. I am able to give back to the community and get kids excited about science. I also get to teach them about science and help re-enforce the concepts that Mrs. KP is teaching them.
To those that are looking to apply to pharmacy school, I advise you to get involve and volunteer. Just don’t narrow down your volunteering to the healthcare field because it has ties with the profession of pharmacy. Find somethings that you are passionate about and volunteer there. You will find it more rewarding and it doesn’t matter that it doesn’t have ties to the profession of pharmacy. If it is an activity that you enjoy, you are more likely to help out in the future and that will help you establish a history of volunteering. The admission committee likes to see that you are giving back to the community. I know that if I was on the admission committee, seeing an applicant that has volunteered as a tutor to elementary school kids would stick with me more that seeing an applicant that has helped out at a hospital. Just somethings to think about when putting your application together.
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