SNOHOMISH — Science students at Snohomish High School carved another notch into the proverbial fence post on the eve of Halloween. The town marks another success in its goal of eventually becoming the pumpkin capital of the Northwest.
About 200 students in introduction to chemistry classes built a periodic table with pumpkins carved to represent each of the 118 elements.
They put each gourd in its respective space on the gym floor. They then lit the jack-o’-lanterns, turned off the lights and watched their periodic table glow.
“We’re the most spirited school so why not,” said Holly Hesselgrave, a chemistry teacher who inspired the project.
While students were memorizing the elements earlier this year, their teacher was trolling Pinterest for classroom ideas. She saw the word “scary” spelled out with elements.
“I thought ‘we should do the whole table,’” Hesselgrave said.
So she and the other introduction to chemistry teachers decided to offer extra credit for students who carved a pumpkin, symbolizing an element and brought it to school for the periodic table.
Hesselgrave, an educator of 16 years, said she’s noticed science becoming “cooler” in the last five years. She credits the change to television shows with nerdy characters, such as “The Big Bang Theory.”
Chelan West, 15, carved Ho, for holmium. in her pumpkin. The sophomore said once the gym lights were off, people couldn’t see the gourds, only the illuminated elements.
“I thought ‘oh shoot this is a real periodic table,’” said her classmate, Jordan Mielbrecht, 16. “‘I could really do something with this.’”
Mielbrecht carved Si to represent silicon into his pumpkin. He also cut a box around the symbol and added 14, the element’s atomic number.
He wants to get into advanced placement sciences to prepare him to eventually study the subject at the University of Washington.
He hopes his pumpkin-carving work will result in his teacher improving his current grade.
Tiffany Crippen, 16, was among a group of students who surprised Hesselgrave by taking the assignment a step further. They spelled out the words “we love chem” with other carved pumpkins. One even had a panther paw. Snohomish High’s students are Panthers.
As they were taking the periodic table down, some of the teens loaded the surprise pumpkins into Hesselgrave’s trunk so she could display them on her porch on Halloween.
After the assignment, Wyatt Watkins, 15, said he’ll never forget the symbol for tungsten. He carved its symbol, W, into his pumpkin with the help of fellow sophomores Bohdi Uderitz and Mark Granados.
“It fits right in with the alliteration of my name,” Watkins said, noting he enjoys learning about chemistry. “I like how it’s the building blocks of everything.”
That was Hesselgrave’s goal when she came up with the assignment. Because her class is a prerequisite to advanced placement classes, she wants to engage students early in their scientific studies.
“Our hope is that by getting them excited and bought in, they’ll be willing to do more than what’s required” as they progress, she said.
Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports
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