I’d like to tell you that I spent all Spring Break clubbin’ in Panama City or Cancun, but I didn’t, so I have to resort back to bringing you up-to-date on the Cullowhee club scene.
Since there is nothing new, or old for that matter, about Cullowhee’s night life, allow me to tell you about another club on campus.
This week I am highlighting the chemistry club, and it would be hard to find a more active organization on campus. The club is involved with many activities, both social and academic, and they also participate in many service projects throughout the year.
The chemistry club is part of the American Chemical Society, and they have been ranked as one of the top clubs in the state of North Carolina. Currently the club is only one of three clubs that received a ranking of commendable, which is the second highest ranking a club can receive. No club obtained an excellent ranking by the ACS.
However, the club has not only received good reviews from the ACS, but also by the WCU’s College of Arts and Sciences. They were named the arts and sciences most active club this year.
One of the Chemistry club’s activities is a magic show that the club performs for the public school system. According to Derrick Powell, a club member, the idea behind the performance is to build an interest in chemistry among the students and show them the fun behind it. In addition to performing the magic tricks, the club also explains how the tricks are done and how chemistry is involved.
The club is also involved in roadside clean-ups and canned food drives. Yet another service project that members of the club are involved in is the science fair. This past Friday members of the club judged local students’ science projects at the science fair held in the Ramsey Center.
And if their service was not enough already, the club also takes members to the Pittsburgh Conference in New Orleans (don’t worry, I was confused at first too). The Pittsburgh Conference is a gathering of the ACS, and it was originally held in Pittsburgh, but it soon grew out of the city. So they moved it to New Orleans. Good trade-off if you ask me.
At this conference, students are exposed to a wide variety of seminars and job opportunities. According to Powell, at this year’s conference there were about 800 participants and 1700 employers.
Powell said, “being a part of ACS opens a lot of doors and a lot of job opportunities.”
The chemistry club is open to all students regardless of major. They meet every other Tuesday in the Natural Science Building room 223 (second floor conference room) at 5:30 p.m. For more information you can call the chemistry department or e-mail Derrick Powell at DP14856@wcu.edu.
