Local elementary students learn what college life is like

“This is so science-y looking,” said one of the 30 or so sixth-graders from Walker Upper Elementary School upon entering a chemistry lab at UVA.

Test tubes, chemicals and safety goggles littered a large room on the second floor of the Chemistry Building that served as a backdrop for one of many activities the students, who were part of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program at Walker Elementary, experienced as part of the yearly Day in the Life event sponsored by the UVA Office of Community Relations and Phi Sigma Pi, an honor fraternity on campus.

Founded in 2002, Day in the Life offers local youth the opportunity to experience college life through tutoring, mentoring, and social and cultural activities on campus. According to the program’s website, since its inception, more than 3,200 local students have participated, receiving more than 50,000 hours of tutoring.

The kids learn things like the photochemistry behind what happens when you activate a glow stick. The UVA students who get to spend a few hours with them learn what it’s like to turn on someone else’s learning lamp.

“It’s nice to see kids being inspired,” said Jamie Dean, a fourth year Anthropology major and vice-president of Phi Sigma Pi. “We brought in 30 elementary school kids, who probably didn’t know what college life was like, who probably have never been here, considering they live five minutes away, maybe they never had the dream of going to college, were never inspired to go to college, and maybe just by us talking to them, they can say ‘maybe this is something I can do in the future.’”

For sixth-grader Hannah Harris, the field trip solidified her desire to go to college.
“It was really educational. It showed us what we need to do to go to college, especially us in the AVID program,” she said. Asked whether she has thought about what she wants to be when she grows up, Harris was quick to answer.

“I would like to go to a really good medical school,” she said pointing in the direction of the Medical Center.

Safety first! A UVA Chemistry student helps a sixth-grader to securely fasten her goggles.

Sixth-graders attently listen to the safety procedures of the laboratory.

A perfectly executed experiment. 

A student places a metal hoop dipped into a solution under a running flame to see the chemical reaction. Photos by Chiara Canzi.