Coins, minnows, holograms give Pitt-Greensburg camp students science, math insights

Jun. 29—Greater Latrobe classmates Kaden Shannon and Jacob Leonard practiced a bit of chemistry this week that might have been mistaken for alchemy.

A penny they boiled in a prepared solution appeared to turn silver, and when they placed the coin on a hot plate it seemed to turn gold.

"It's cool that we're able to turn copper into different things and then eventually turn it back to copper," said Leonard.

Erin Divito, an assistant chemistry professor at Pitt-Greensburg and one of the instructors at the Summer Science & Math Experience at the university's Hempfield campus, explained there really was no miraculous money-changing involved.

When boiled, zinc material in the water coated the pennies, lending them the color of silver. When heated again, the zinc combined with the penny's copper surface to create gold-colored brass.

"I'm really looking forward to the bridge competition," Shannon said of another hands-on activity at the weeklong camp that will determine which student's plastic-straw bridge can bear the most weight. "I find bridges super-interesting."

The Greater Latrobe pair are among 30 rising ninth-grade students from 10 school districts in three counties who are taking part in the 13th edition of the summer camp, which continues through Friday.

Other assignments the students tackled included collecting DNA samples from inside their cheeks, making paper airplanes with wings that flapped like a bat's and analyzing the water quality, flow and aquatic life in a section of Slate Run that passes through the campus. They also took a field trip to tour a former deep coal mine near Tarentum.

"It was pretty cool seeing the machinery they used through the ages," Shannon said of the mine. But, he admitted, "it was also quite creepy being underground, knowing there was rock above us."

Jodi Kraisinger, program coordinator, said the camp's goal is "to get students acclimated to science and math at an early age," to help "break down barriers that might prevent them from pursuing careers in math or science."

At the end of the week, she said, many of the students "want to know if they can come back again or if we can make the camp longer. They didn't realize that math and science is so fun."

The timing is right to offer the camp to students as they transition from middle school to high school, said Laura Giovannelli, a Pitt-Greensburg chemistry instructor who led a camp session exposing students to the science behind holograms. "It's when they've started to have an intent of what they want to do with their lives," she said.

Shannon said he's pondering a career as an aerospace engineer while Leonard forecasts work as a meteorologist for himself.

Yough classmates Hailey Whalen and Izzy Seaton enjoyed the camp's stream analysis, which included catching minnows and crayfish and learning how to purify water.

Seaton sees herself teaching a math class several years down the road. Whalen expressed an interest in both math and science, but not as a career. "I like psychology," she said.

Most of the camp participants were recommended by an administrator at their school.

Audrey Hult,whose favorite class at Greater Latrobe is biology, was eager to attend the camp after hearing positive reports from past participants.

"This is an amazing experience," she said.

She expressed an interest in a career as a neurosurgeon and was particularly impressed by a camp session on nursing.

"It taught compression, how to use crutches and bedside manner," she said. "We got to practice on dummies."

The camp receives support from several area foundations. The students are housed on campus during the week, as are camp counselors drawn from the Pitt-Greensburg student body.

Jenna Nicole Kuba, a Derry Area High School alumna who received her early childhood degree from Pitt-Greensburg this spring, is completing a return stint as a camp counselor.

She had fun as a camp participant when she was in ninth grade.

"I really loved the chemistry activities," she recalled. "We got to set gummy bears on fire by dropping them into chemicals."

Now, as a budding educator, she takes notice of how this year's camp students are reacting to the experience.

"Now I'm seeing what they're excited about," including learning how to move up and down stairs while on crutches.

"It's not that easy, but they absolutely loved it," she said.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .