Students gain real-world experiences
Field trip is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
Mr. Hescox and his students enjoyed their trip to Penn State.
Some of the eighth grade students recently went to the Millennium Science Center at Penn State and the Albemarle Chemical Plant in Tyrone to experience a once in a lifetime opportunity with Mr. Hescox. To go on this field trip, the students had to write an essay on why they wanted to go on the trip. The students were selected to go by Mr. Hescox.
First, they went to the Millennium Science Center in the morning from 9:00 to 11:30 to learn about some of the machines and microscopes they use in Nanotechnology. The Millennium Science Center is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and three hundred and sixty-five days a year.
When the students first arrived, they took a tour of the top floor. On the top floor there were students using the labs to work on experiments. The students had to wear a full clean suit so that no dirt particles or hair fell into their projects. There were about twelve different labs full of students and staff. In the labs where they worked, they had to have yellow light because white light destroys the particles and affects the resolution of the machines.
After they were done touring the upstairs, they took the freight elevator downstairs. The bottom floor is underneath the garden outside. It is under the garden so that the vibrations from Penn State football games can’t destroy any expensive tools under it. Even the slightest vibrations could ruin the experiment. The very first thing they did downstairs was to learn how to use the microscope and see the inside features. The most expensive tool downstairs was a microscope that cost nine million dollars! The Titan transmission electron microscope allows researchers a chance to investigate the world at the atomic and nanoscale level. When they were done looking at the microscopes downstairs, they headed to the University of Pennsylvania sign to take pictures.
The next stop was the Albemarle Chemical Plant in Tyrone. With a broad customer reach and diverse end markets, Albemarle develops, manufactures, and markets technologically advanced and high value added products. When they first arrived, they went to the lunch building. In the lunch building, they ate pizza that the Chemical Plant bought for them. While they ate, they watched a safety video that showed how to keep safe and the rules for the Albemarle Corporation. The manager also explained some more rules and made some students try on the Hazmat suits they had to wear in the plant. The students had to put on hard hats, safety glasses, and a lab coat so they were safe. They split into two groups and toured some of the buildings. In the buildings were many tubes and tanks that held different kinds of chemicals.
The next building the students went into was the storage building. In this building were all different boxes and tanks of chemicals that ran from twenty pounds to two tons. Next, they went to the control room. In the control room were six different computers, with three men running two computers each. They had to record everything that was happening, and they basically controlled the whole plant. When they were done, they went into the lab where they were making pharmaceuticals. They showed us some of the machines that they used to create the medicines.
The last stop was the office building. The office building had a kitchen and a room where they met with companies that are buying chemicals from them. Finally, we headed back to the lunch building to ask some questions. After we asked all of our questions, we loaded back onto the bus to go back to school.
The Millennium Science Center and the Albemarle Chemical Plant field trip was a great educational and interesting trip. It was an awesome experience, and the students learned so many things. A big thanks to the Millennium Science Center, Albemarle Chemical Plant, and Mr. Hescox for making this trip happen!
