SCHOOL: Boone Trail Elementary

GRADE: 2nd

PROGRAM: Weather Wise

Scientist: Cameron

This week was quite a rollercoaster! Even as a new Scientist, I’ve had tons of great experiences with the kids throughout every grade level. No matter how far I’ve gone—be it Fayetteville or Hillsborough, Garner or Durham—I have found Junior Scientists excited to learn about our world. But, like a tricky experiment, some days just don’t seem to go your way…

On Wednesday, I journeyed to Boone Trail Elementary, near Lillington, NC, to teach “Weather Wise,” an awesome program in which students get to touch lightning, create tornadoes, and get blasted with real clouds! Even with such a thrilling program to look forward to, everything seemed against me! I was freezing cold, my windshield wouldn’t defog, I was losing my voice, my GPS was confusing—I just couldn’t catch a break! When I arrived, however, things immediately started to improve.

The kids were excellent listeners, and they asked so many great questions. As we started building their take-home experiment—a three-part Weather Station—I could see their excitement growing. When we began to discuss and test out some instruments used by Meteorologists, such as Barometers and Wind Bags, they were totally loving it! After they saw the Cloud Blaster and got some air to the face, they didn’t want the program to end! My day was transforming in all the right ways because of these amazing students. One of them even complimented my hair. And here I was thinking I needed to get it cut!

At the very end of the program—when my Meteorologists had gathered their Weather Stations and were quietly chatting about the experiments we’d performed—one second grader made my day: as they left the room, he said, “I want to grow up to be just like you.” Wow! That was so special. My biggest goal is to let every kid know that she can be a scientist if she wants to, so it’s just awesome that one of them would come away from the program wanting to be a scientist like me. Teaching science brings me great joy, and seeing my students engaged and excited makes it even better. I look forward to my next classes!