Session: Successful Student Chapters:

The Texas A&M International University American Chemical Society Student Chapter in Laredo, Texas is a student-led organization that promotes chemistry to a border town community that is 95.6% hispanic. The TAMIU ACS Student Chapter has faced a challenging year with sudden and unexpected difficulties due to COVID-19. Being on the Texas border, our community has had significant COVID cases. We have been recognized as the #1 city in the nation in terms of new COVID cases per day, based on population. Our university remained open this year to in-person courses; however, we have modified our outreach and events to recognize social distancing and other local measures to reduce COVID community spread. Our student chapter has continued to foster active membership participation by advocating through online platforms for university orientations and outreach events using pre-recorded videos and ZOOM meetings to provide informational and interactive sessions. TAMIU ACS has developed a new science career outreach podcast program to inform and insight interest in college and High school students. This program uses a podcast-like setting to interview scientists and graduate students in varying programs (MS, PhD, Post Doc, MD, DDS, PharD, etc.), to talk about their academic experiences through graduate school and current scientific findings. The TAMIU student chapter has continued its partnership with the local school district program, United Independent School District’s After School Adventures (UISD ASA). The After School Adventures program and TAMIU ACS was able to host interactive virtual demonstrations through the online platform, ZOOM, for 3^rd to 5^th graders. These students are provided a materials list beforehand to actively participate with aid from an adult during this livestream event. Our presentation will focus on how we have adapted to the restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to continue our outreach and encourage excitement for chemistry. This poster will report on the outcomes of these continued and new promising activities, as well as the effectiveness of the measures adopted to ensure a successful future for the TAMIU ACS student chapter.

Kameron Jorgensen

Appearances