After Sean Boerhout (12) dropped a piece of Alka Seltzer into the mixture, Deer Canyon Elementary School’s fourth-grade students watched in awe as a make-shift lava lamp made of water dyed red and vegetable oil seemingly came to life with swirling bubbles 

Catalysts4Success, a volunteer club focused on STEM education at Westview, visited Deer Canyon. They visit multiple elementary schools in PUSD every month. Co-Presidents of the club, Amaia Schmitigal (12), Boerhout and their fellow club members performed different STEM demonstrations such as making lava lamps, balancing nails, and creating oobleck, Jan. 26. Through those various experiments, they taught the younger students basic concepts of science and physics.

“[With the] lava lamp experiment, the idea is to demonstrate density differences and the separation of polar and nonpolar fluids,” Boerhout said. “The balancing nails [were] to teach mechanical physics [while] oobleck, a combination of cornstarch and water, demonstrated a non-Newtonian fluid and properties of fluids.”

Vice President Fiona Zhang (12) said that the club strives to present scientific concepts to younger students in a fun and engaging way.

“It’s educational, [but] it’s also inspirational,” she said. “They’re simple experiments, but we try to make sure they’re fun [while] also explaining the science behind each one.”

Schmitigal said Catalysts4Success, since its founding, has expanded to other schools, bringing opportunities for club collaboration throughout the district.

 “[Catalysts4Succes] was started at Westview and since then they’ve expanded to other schools like Mt. Carmel and La Jolla,” she said. “Its [spread] to other districts and we’ve worked together with them we’ve done events together such as ones in canyon view” 

Boerhout said the main purpose of their interactive visits to elementary schools is not just to educate the students, but also to expose them to science by getting them involved.

“The expectation is not to grasp all the information we [give] them,” Boerhout said. “We’re just trying to give them a positive outlook on the subject and so, as a result, they are hopefully more inclined to do STEM themselves as they get older.” 

Working with 9- and 10-year-olds, Boerhout said he found the difference between his and the students’ ages to be more fun than challenging.  

“It’s very humbling because you’re forced to act mature, but also have their attention by making jokes,” he said. “They’re really fun to talk to and they really get into the experiments and ask a lot of questions.”

In such a lighthearted environment, Boerhout said he gets to see a new side of his peers and himself when working with the kids.

“Usually, [two club members] pair up for each event and it’s a lot of fun working together,” Boerhout said “We’ll joke with each other and joke with the kids. It’s a very different dynamic from being in high school. There are no elements of social [expectation], so you can make silly jokes that wouldn’t be considered funny [at Westview], but [at Deer Canyon] the kids are laughing like crazy.”

Through these visits, Schmitigal said she found herself reminiscing on what initially interested her about STEM, bringing her into a full circle moment. 

“What inspired me to pursue STEM was when I was in elementary school and these high school groups [would] come in and have [us] build bridges or parachutes to experiment with,” she said. “I wanted to give back to the community in the same way.”

For Zhang, the club is something that aligns with her interests while also giving her new experiences.

“It combines my interests in helping younger students while also doing STEM,” she said. “We always have to be creative on the spot, learn how to help the students, and be able to communicate the experiment to them.”

Boerhout said being in the club helped encourage his passion for teaching, which led him to tutor outside school.

“I like teaching and that started with this club because I realized it was really fun to explain concepts and learn from it,” Boerhout said. “In some cases, [the kids] will ask something you’ve never thought of.”

Zhang said she has enjoyed approaching education in a nontraditional way, and she said the most fulfilling part of the visits is being able to connect and expose the kids to different experiences.

“I want to [show] them that learning can be fun, trying new things can be exciting, [and] that education isn’t just reading a textbook,” she said. “We definitely just enjoy seeing their excitement.”