There are only so many science classes a student can take in four years, and students might not even have the chance to take all of them. Two students saw this problem and made a solution that opened this year. They have helped create the opportunity to learn about different sciences like psychology, physiology, or anatomy, etc., through interactive labs with peers in the new STEM Club.

“We felt like there were a lot of different courses and like paths of life, like, especially career-wise or just interest-wise, that weren’t available to students at the time,” said the cofounder, Yazhi Pagutalan.

Mrs. Ahmad, who is the sponsor of the STEM club, was a chemist before starting her teaching career at Sandburg. She loved STEM subjects in high school and gravitated towards a career as a chemist in college. During her college experience, she did labs that took 3-5 hours at a time, but she says, “they would always be so fun and actual hands-on studies.”

When students approached Mrs. Ahmad with the opportunity to support a STEM club at Sandburg, she said she “was like, obviously, because I know how much I love labs, and this is just like my second platform for them to actually come to school and do more labs. So, I feel like everyone can connect with at least one of the things that we’re talking about.” 

Pagultan and her friend, Annika Trehan, are really interested in science and physics. They both loved science since middle school and always wanted more opportunities to do more science-related things outside of school. Their first year of school, they wanted to help found a STEM club so they could “foster an environment where upperclassmen and underclassmen would be able to have opportunities to discover their passions within the field of STEM,” said Pagultan. 

These two students started taking on this initiative in the spring of their sophomore year. Pagultan said that “while it was very difficult to work around a bunch of policies and logistics, especially starting the club, running it, funding, seeing the need for it, analyzing your audience…is very difficult, but it was worth it.” 

Pagultan says that having “belief in our cause really motivated us to actually get it started for our team.”

Over the past several meetings, STEM club has already done two interactive labs. The first was creating elephant toothpaste, for the subject of chemistry. Elephant toothpaste is a substance that shows the quick decomposition of hydrogen peroxide with yeast. This shows the student an example of an exothermic reaction that has a catalyst. The ingredients are hydrogen peroxide, detergent, yeast, water, and food coloring.

This is a safe approach to elephant toothpaste, as the STEM Club really emphasizes safety. To participate all activities, you must wear your hair tied back, wear goggles and closed-toe shoes, and have short or rolled-up long sleeves.

However, their next activity is for everyone, and that is making terrariums in jars. Ecology is one of the lesser-known sciences for students, but ecology is learning of the ecosystem and how it interacts with organisms and their environment. They use rocks and soil for the plants to be in, so they are able to grow and thrive. The unique process of assembling a terrarium is fascinating to students, and they can create all sorts of terrariums with different plants of their choosing.

Their future projects are making storms in a bottle and taking psychology tests about themselves and others.

Expectations are really high for their first year of the club, and they are hopeful about what will be in store for the years to come. “[Even if] you don’t plan on going into a STEM field, this club is an amazing opportunity to just embrace your creativity, to learn more,” said Pagultan. She fully believes that everyone has a reason to learn through STEM club, even if it is just “to help advance your studies within school.” 

Within the STEM Club, “Everyone can connect with at least one of the things that we’re talking about,” Mrs. Ahmad said.  You can meet people who can introduce you to different sciences that you would be interested in learning further. People who wouldn’t be interested in the STEM Club should still join because they can still embrace their creativity within the projects with like-minded people. And perhaps the best outcome is that you may be able to find what you enjoy through this club or even start a career out of it. High school is for learning and experiencing new things, so you know what you can do when you get into the future.

Joining the STEM Club is a great way to explore the science world and discover new opportunities, and this year is just the beginning.