Since 2012, student volunteers participating within the CCIG have engaged with the community through service-learning efforts. The CCIG volunteers have provided approximately fifty hours of service per semester to K-12 in school and out of school activities at the high school and middle school grades. CCIG has historically recruited volunteers from different groups within Xavier such as the NSF funded PREM students and most recently the students from Xavier’s ACS Chemistry club. The mission of the CCIG involves connecting and inspiring young scientists through the formation of connections between college students and the middle school and high school students. Through this service learning opportunity the Xavier students with an interest or background in the sciences volunteer to lead science experiments for younger students taking science classes whose schools do not currently have the infrastructure for “wet-chemistry” or a viable lab curriculum. The experiments are designed from many different science branches, like chemistry, biology, and physics, in order to accomplish the goal of increasing the students’ exposure to many ideas and topics across different science fields. For a sustained and effective impact, the service-learning efforts are carried out on a weekly basis over a six-week period per semester with the participating schools.  Along with increasing students’ exposure to the sciences, CCIG seeks to foster an interest in and an appreciation for future careers in STEM along with providing a strong mentorship component to the middle and high school students who are often at economically disadvantaged schools. Through surveys of the CCIG outreach program it is seen that the high school and middle school students find great enjoyment and take interest in the topics that their experiments explore. Additionally, all the students involved appreciate forming positive connections with each other in the roles of mentors and mentees. Since most of the Xavier student volunteers are minority students there is a strong sense of support and connection between them and the mostly minority students at the middle and high schools. CCIG is an effective service-learning group that aims to bridge the gap between science and the community through science experiments and mentorship.

Community Chemistry Integration Group (CCIG): Fostering an engaged community through STEM service-learning

255th National Meeting (2018)

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