Safety for My College-Bound Scientists

My Students

"Begin with the end in mind." By the end of middle school, my scientists need to know that lab safety is first and foremost, and that when we put on our goggles, aprons, and gloves-it's time to begin acting and thinking like scientists. Unfortunately, we don't have goggles, aprons, or gloves.

My students attend the only "F" middle school in their school district.

Last year, their school was amongst the lowest performing middle schools in the state. And all eyes, both figuratively and literally, are on them and their teachers to see if they can simply survive another year. When I tell people where I work, I get eyes of sympathy and words of discouragement. And yet I know that what I have to overcome is not half of what my students must overcome. My students come from impoverished homes, broken families, so hungry and stressed that it simply amazes me all that they can survive. We are not striving to just survive, though. We are striving to succeed in ways people can't even imagine. My students are college-bound scientists. They were scientists before they ever entered my room, I tell them. The moment they stepped in it, they became college-bound. And every day, we begin with the end in mind, and every day they work with the end in mind.

My Project

If I could have it anyway, I would want all my students, all 100 of them, to have the same opportunity I did to attend college. With this end in mind, I realized that there are essential skills and mindsets that my children need to develop in my class to put them on the right path to reach this end. They need to know lab safety is first and foremost and that when we put on our goggles, aprons, and gloves-it's time to begin acting and thinking like scientists. Yet, how do I reinforce these skills and mindsets without goggles, aprons, and gloves? Furthermore, in middle school, science needs to be fun and interactive, because this is what hooks and drives their reading of nonfiction. My scientists struggle with reading, because there is a reason they say the achievement gap is a literacy gap--it's the truth. Finally, in whatever activities we do in class, I want my students to be safe and not limited because I can't provide them with the proper safety supplies.

They may seem like such small things to request--goggles, aprons, and gloves--but they will have a huge impact on what my students and I accomplish this year.

Furthermore, they are essentials for every science classroom. So, not only will I get use out of them this year, but also for years to come. Your donation will not only help my college-bound scientists this year, but next year's college-bound scientists as well.