The Summer Enrichment Program in Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh at Titusville.

Created and developed by Dr. Ping Furlan, assistant professor of chemistry, the one-week  advanced chemistry camp and two-week elementary camp were a big success with 28 students attending from Venango and Crawford counties.  The Samuel Justus Charitable Trust Foundation provided funding for eligible Venango County students.

The 15 students in the advanced session shared a unique bond.  They were all home schooled and from the Franklin and Centerville areas.  The camp provided special hands-on lab time and a chance to witness firsthand the outcomes of biology experiments.  Students in the elementary session attended from Oil City, Franklin, Titusvillle, Pleasantville and surrounding areas.

In advanced camp the students learned the importance of recycling as they converted beverage cans into useful substances used to purify water;  used in the manufacturing of pickles;  and used in a medicine to stop bleeding.  In another experiment, students learned the combination of compounds used to create the variety of colors in fireworks.

According to Dr. Furlan, "We did college level work in the camp and the students, high school age and younger, did a fantastic job."

Students in the Elementary Camp learned which molecules move faster, hot or cold.  Jared Porcenaluk knows the answer, "If you take a beaker of cold and add food coloring, the molecules in the cold one move slower.  The food coloring in the hot water beaker spread out quickly."

Each of the students had their favorite experiment.  "I enjoyed making Glurp ... green and gooey," says Rachel Girard.  Glurp is a strange substance that can bounce but also turn to liquid.  "As long as you keep it moving, it remains solid," says Marcia Stiller.  "Once you stop bouncing the Glurp or moving it around, it changes into a liquid form."  The students also spent two days with Dr. Margaret Peaslee, professor of biology, using mice to gain experience with laboratory animals.  With three new litters, the students were able to closely study development and growth.  One litter was two weeks old, another one day old.  Dr. Peaslee said this was a plus, "By having different ages of litters, we could see the progression of changes."

"I had fun working with the mice," says Sarah Stutzman.  Marcia Stiller added, "Our two days of biology with Dr. Peaslee were a nice mix with the chemistry."

On the last day of camp, the students worked together to create web pages on the computers that highlighted the experiments they conducted and the results of those experiments.  Those web pages may be accessed through the University of Pittsburgh at Titusvillle's web site at http://www.pitt.edu/~uptchem.

Dr. Furlan said the camp touched just about "every corner of chemistry."  The students welcomed the challenges.  Arielle Smith said, "We all enjoyed working with Dr. Furlan and we are grateful that she put so much time into this camp."

Dr. Furlan would like to run the camp again next summer.  "President Worman is very supportive of everything we try to do and Dr. Peaslee has been a mentor to me.  The camp is a benefit to the students in the area and something I look forward to doing again."