Catalysts for Change Workshop supported by WU Women’s Society and WU Gephardt Institute

 

For the seventh year in a row, the Catalysts for Change program was awarded a funding grant from the Women’s Society at WashU . This year, the award was a total of $1500 which allowed us to supply t-shirts, food and beverages to over 70 high school freshmen girls.

In addition, the program was awarded for the second year in a row with a Civic Engagement Fund - Small Change Grant from the Gephardt Institute. This award was a total of $500, which allowed us to supply experimental and chemical materials for the laboratory activities. The activities include: squid dissection, making ferrofluids, creating a buzzer circuit, solving crime through a forensics activity, designing a rocket to launch an egg into “space”, making ice cream with liquid Nitrogen, detecting compounds in fireworks with a flame test, and differentiating amino acids by their aroma.

The Catalysts for Change program invites 9th grade girls from the St. Louis area to campus to participate in two weekends of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) experimentation and learning.