The AP Chemistry students on their field trip at Harvard. Photo submitted Meghan Yip.
On November 21, 2016 the students of Malden High School science teacher Martin Berryman’s AP chemistry class embarked themselves on a trip to Harvard University.
For many, it was an eye-opening experience as they came to know about “advanced technology that [they] did not know existed until [they saw them on the trip],” said junior Meghan Yip. The visit shows the student of the possibilities out there along with all the opportunities for those who are interested in chemistry and various sciences.
When heard of the offer to visit the famous university, the students reacted differently from one another. Some students were excited right away at the idea of visiting Harvard. Yip was hesitant at first, but soon she was persuaded by Berryman when he mentioned that they were about to visit an actual lab where the experiments took place. Though their first impression of the trips were different, the trips were intrigued the students as the visit proved to be “a really good experience,” Yip said.
The students took the train and rode it to Harvard Square and took a walk to the university where they got to look around before heading to the labs at the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. There, they were given a presentation by graduate students about the deep sea and how the marine animal survive in such environment. Afterward, the class was taken to the lab and they got to observed and saw what is it like to be a real chemist.
“[They could] ask any questions and [the staff] would answer them,” Yip said “It was more like an observing experience [rather than a hands-on one].” There were many different researches being carried out by individuals in the team. “One of the researches being conducted there was about how one can make electricity out of bacteria” said Yip. Berryman commented on how all the researches there “will make huge impact on the world”.
Besides being an enriching adventure for students with promising future in chemistry, the trip was a cultural learning experience as well. The student community there was filled with “people with different background and came from many different places all over the world,” explained Yip.
