Sometimes I really love my job

 One of the many components of my job is that I'm the advisor to our campus' student chapter of the  professional chemistry society.  It is often one of the most time consuming parts of my job (although it's supposed to be just a minor service activity) but, for the most part, I really love it.  I'm over-involved, I admit it, but it's hard for me to step back.  I'll miss it if I ever manage to get to go on maternity leave.  (Although, my DH will say that the best thing for my stress levels and sanity would be to stop working with them.  He's right.)


Let me take a moment to toot my own horn:  when I started working here 8 years ago, the chapter was disorganized, had about 5 regular members and didn't really do much.  I took over as advisor during my second year teaching here and I've worked with the students to make them a national award winning chapter.  It's taken incredible student leadership and a lot of hard work.  We now have at least 30 active members, with lots more semi-active members.  They do all sorts of outreach activities in the community and social and professional events on campus.  It's been just an incredible part of my job.

That isn't to say that sometimes I don't feel like strangling them (because 18-22 year-olds are not always the most reliable people in the world) but I absolutely love how excited they get and how creative they can be.


So, all this leads to the most stressful but absolutely best part of this week.  We just got back from performing a chemistry demonstration show at the local elementary school.  Students made solutions change color.  Others made bubbles appear from nowhere.  Water disappeared.  They got an egg stuck in a bottle.  We put small children inside of giant bubbles.  We brushed an elephant's teeth.  (You had to be there.)  All set to music.  We had an audience of over 100 kids.  It was crazy stressful getting ready for it and I truly didn't think it was going to work.  I can't count the number of hours the students who were in charge put into it.  But, it was absolutely incredible.  There's nothing like the rush you get when 100 third and fourth graders are screaming with excitement!  They had a great time, we had a great time and hopefully someone out there learned something! 

This is the third year we've done the show.  But, it's the first time we took it directly to the elementary school.  We'll do a longer version tomorrow for the greater community and then again next week in a town about 1 1/2 hours away.  I'm still stressed about it, but seeing how much the little kids enjoyed it just absolutely made my week.

I'm not sure what I'm more excited about -- the IUI tomorrow morning or the next show tomorrow afternoon? ☺ 

Pictures from rehearsals for our first show three years ago:

The Element Song

Don't you wish you could be in a big bubble?

Dry ice is fun.

Rainbow Connection