Bethel College chemistry students have been busy lately. Oct. 17–18, five students and two chemistry faculty attended the American Chemical Society Midwest Regional meeting in Springfield, Mo. Three students presented posters about their research, and one faculty member gave an oral presentation.

Dylan Jantz gets ready to show a class at Prairie Hills Middle School something 'aaaamazing' about chemistry. Photo by Teresa Poulseen.Dylan Jantz gets ready to show a class at Prairie Hills Middle School something aaaamazing about chemistry. Photo by Teresa Poulseen.

Senior Rachel Evans presented Characterization of Differences in Norepinephrine: Rural Versus Urban Emergency Responders. Co-authors were Kathryn Layman, associate professor of chemistry/physics, and Dwight Krehbiel ’69, professor of psychology.

Seniors Michelle Kaufman and Jared Regehr presented Effects of Reducing Sugars and Metal Ions on pbr322 Strain of E. coli Bacterium. Co-author was Gary Histand, professor of chemistry.

Layman also gave an oral presentation, Investigation of P-Cresol Oxidation on Alumina-Supported Metal Oxide Catalysts. Her co-authors were Bethel senior Casey Budd, Jordan Esley–Kohlman ’13 and Trey Ronnebaum ’12. Juniors Jason Friesen and Dylan Jantz also attended the ACS meeting.

Starting in late November, Bethel chemistry majors, with Histand, did chemistry demonstrations in local schools.

Nov. 25, Histand, Friesen and Jantz visited Prairie Hills Middle School in Hutchinson, where they presented demonstrations to more than 180 students and several faculty members.

Mr. Jantz got the attention of the entire school when he set off a mini-explosion and teachers came running to see what happened, Histand said. Expecting tragedy, the only thing they found was a large group of students having a good time.

The host teacher, Teresa Poulseen, blogged about the experience, and the Bethel students even got their picture on the Prairie Hills Facebook page.

What Histand calls the Chemistry is AAAAmazing Tour then traveled to Chisholm Middle School in Newton.