Jill Krysinski is a teacher at Bloom High School, a public school in Chicago Heights, Illinois. She is also the Director of the school’s Science Club, an extracurricular activity for students. In 2007, Ms. Krysinski decided to focus the club on the jobs of the future – alternative energy and renewable resource technologies.
In 2007, Ms. Krysinski arranged to have a diesel bus donated to the science club. The science club uses the bus in several different ways. First of all, the students learn hands on how diesel engines work, seeing how each component works individually and how they all fit together to make the engine run.
The students learn about alternatives to petroleum based fuels, breaking down the chemical composition of various fuels. For the fuel portion, Ms. Krysinski has teamed up with Bloom’s chemistry teacher. The chemistry teacher has added making bio-diesel fuel from used vegetable oil and ethanol out of corn as a part of the Advanced Chemistry class curriculum, and gives the fuel to the Science Club to power their bus.
The third use for the bus is to take students out into the community to do presentations on alternative and renewable energy. Ms. Krysinski helped the students to create a visual display and speech on the topic. The students ride the diesel bus to do public speaking engagements, attend science fairs, environment fairs, etc. and help make the community aware of the types of technologies that exist and are on the horizon. This gives the students valuable public speaking skills in addition to technical know-how that will help them in their future careers.
In addition to the bus, the Bloom teachers also teach about solar cell technology. With help from Earth Day Networks, they installed solar cells on the school roof. They are preparing to install solar cells on the diesel bus soon. They have also done experiments with fuel cell technology and are planning to do experiments with wind turbines, as well. The club has also formed a school recycling program.
The Science Club currently has a new greenhouse in the school courtyard that is being equipped with technology that allows for food to be grown year round. They are also in the process of building a rooftop garden on top of one of the buildings. The plan is for the cooking class students to grow their own herbs and produce for use in their classroom cooking assignments.
We were honored that Ms. Krysinski made time to be interviewed by Parentella, despite being incredibly busy with all the activities the Club is currently involved in.
Q: How many students are in your club?
A: Last year we had 40, but this year it is 60. I have recruited another teacher to help me because 60 students is a lot for one person!
Q: How do you possibly teach so many things and work on so many projects at once?
A: Currently, about half the students are working on the greenhouse building project and the other half are working on the alternative fuels projects. Each year, on projects that have already been established, the older students teach the younger students, which allows me to work on creating on new projects.
Q: How many speaking engagements/fairs do the students participate in during the year?
A: As a group, we do about 1 – 2 a month. The students who work on the alternative fuels portion of the club are divided into three groups, so the individual students participate in about 1/3 of the engagements.
Q: The bus is donated and the fuel for the bus is made by the chemistry class. But how are you paying for the rest of the projects you work on, like the solar cells, fuel cells and greenhouse?
A: I write requests for grants. We have received 6 grants totaling over $170,000 from British Petroleum Global (BP), Ford Motor, and Earth day Networks. Ford even sent 20 volunteers to help us physically build the greenhouse and rooftop garden. I also get supplies from Donorschoose.org.
Q: How much support have you gotten for these projects from your administrators, peers, parents and the community?
A: I could not have done any of my big projects without the help of our maintenance staff — they are phenomenal. I have received positive support from administration and fellow staff.
Q: Do you think this club has a positive impact on the students overall education? Is there some way to measure the impact on how well students are doing in school thanks to your club?
A: Yes, I believe they learn invaluable leadership skills. These students are engaged. They are creating, problem solving and teaching others. They are doing things you can not learn in a book.
Q: Do you believe you are equipping your students to get better jobs in the future? If so, why?
A: Yes. Students gain confidence, life experience, public speaking skills, and build character. They learn to work together as a team, to create presentations and to develop new projects.
Q: Ms. Krysinski, we at Parentella are incredibly impressed with your Science Club program. It is forward thinking and comprehensive, a genuine asset to any child’s education. We hope that you continue to be successful in the various ventures the club takes on, and that other schools will begin to emulate your program.
A: Thank you.
image credit: http://www.bloomhs.org/ourpages/auto/2007/11/7/1194445978499/HPIM0901.JPG
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Christi Grab is contributing editor and writer for Parentella. She is a native of Southern California. After graduating from San Diego State University, she went on to be a successful business woman. In April of 2007, she and her husband decided to put their careers on hold and travel the world for two years. Ms. Grab has recently returned from her travels and is currently writing a book about their adventure. For more information on the trip, visit their website.
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Tags: education, Energy, Renewable energy, San Diego State University, Science Club, Solar cell, Southern California, Technology
[...] The Science Club at Bloom High School in Illinois is doing amazing things in terms of teaching students to be leaders in environmentally friendly science. [...]