The American Chemical Society has a vast array of ways that members can inspire and help educate our next generation scientists.  The Kanawha Valley Section has spent years working with high schools students to boost the interest in STEM through the ACS Project SEED, Science Coaches, and the Chemistry Olympiad.  The section has worked with the universities in the region to start offering scholarships based on the performance on this test.  These partnerships has helped the Olympiad grow from 6 schools in 2011 to 15 schools in 2017 and identifies hundreds of students annually that have an interest in STEM fields to provide them and their teachers with resources to learn what the STEM fields have to offer as careers.  The universities in the section have bought into the idea of supporting this test with scholarship offers to support these students to stay in West Virginia.  Every year the section cosponsors an awards banquet that recognizes the accomplishments of the students from eh Chemistry Olympiad, Science Coaches, Project SEED, and the “You be the Chemist” competition.  The successes from these programs has led many students pursue STEM degrees at our local schools as well as other universities in the state and region.  These programs are invaluable to provide our rural students an opportunity to experience STEM fields in ways that would be impossible without the support of the ACS and regional universities.<br/>

Recruiting rural West Virginia for STEM students

254th National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.