Oh, wait, I said a lot of things, didn't I?
Well, remember when I'd said I was concerned most about the students who had pledged to volunteer their groups for the NCW event on the first day of SERMACS 2019?
Well, it turned out I was right to doubt them.
My first concern came up at the end of August, when I was notified of a possible clash between the students I needed for my event and the ones needed at the Marriott.
Let's follow the bunny trail, shall we?
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FAUSTINA SMITH
8/30/2019 6:23 PM
To Elizabeth Loos
RE: The Mole Volunteer
Elizabeth,
I do not know about that. [She had asked about the volunteers needed by Beverly Penland for other SERMACS events on October 20.]
I'm hoping her volunteer base is not for the same times as the NCW event at Morrell Park.
You ARE going to be part of that, aren't you? I'm hoping to have four demo sites set up, to keep folks moving. The park is much larger than I had recalled, so we have plenty of space to spread out.
We still need to determine which demonstrations to do, as there are several possibilities.
So excited about that!
Dr. Faustina (Tina) Smith
---------------- -------------------------- -----------------
Elizabeth Loos
8/30/2019 6:45 PM
To FAUSTINA SMITH
RE: The Mole Volunteer
Do not worry. We will have plenty of volunteers.
- Elizabeth Loos
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FAUSTINA SMITH
8/30/2019 7:00 PM
To Chelsea Miller
NCW event nearing!
Hi, Chelsea!
Here's a reminder about the NCW event at Morrell Park.
You ARE going to be part of that, aren't you? I'm hoping to have four demo sites set up, to keep folks moving. The park is much larger than I had recalled, so we have plenty of space to spread out.
We still need to determine which demonstrations to do, as there are several possibilities.
So excited about that!
Dr. Faustina (Tina) Smith
---------------------- -------------------------------
Chelsea Miller
8/30/2019 8:04 PM
To FAUSTINA SMITH
RE: NCW event nearing!
Dr. Smith,
Yes, we are going to be a part of it! :D
Getting exciting!
--
Chelsea N. Miller
President (2019-2020)
Georgia Southern Armstrong Campus [SAACS]
Chair (2019-2020)
Coastal Georgia Section [ACS] Younger Chemists Committee (CGYCC)
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FAUSTINA SMITH
9/20/2019 1:25 PM
To: Galvan, Patricia
NCW just one month away!
Happy Friday, Patti and David!
The calendar has reminded me that our NCW opening event for SERMACS is on the horizon!
I know that y'all had spoken of performing an outreach event at the San Diego meeting.
How did that go?? Which demos were used and what hiccups occurred, if any?
Could you send me those demos for our use?
Thanks for any and all advice!
Tina
-------------------------- ---------------------------
FAUSTINA SMITH
9/20/2019 2:04 PM
Blind copy Elizabeth Loos, Chelsea Miller
NCW event just one month away!
Happy Friday, Elizabeth and Chelsea!
I did not know if you would mind sharing your email addresses with each other, so I have BCC'ed. If you have no objection, I would rather use those in the "To" address line in the future.
Please let me know if you prefer the BCC.
I thought I would include both of you in this email, as both SA-ACS and YCC will, hopefully, be providing volunteers for the
NCW event which will open SERMACS on Sunday, October 20.
We have Morrell Park for our use that day, from 1 PM to 4 PM. The demonstrations to the public will begin at 1:30 and last until 3:30, giving us thirty minutes to set up and another 30 at the end, to leave the park clean again.
We are allowed to use tables in the park. However, as we will most likely be carrying everything from the Marriott, I thought
the use of camp chairs might be a good alternative and leave less impact on the park.
We are hoping for 300 attendees. I think having the event on the Sunday, when parking downtown is free, will definitely work
in our favor. I intend to have our event listed in "DO Savannah" and "Connect Savannah", as they will give us free word to the
public.
I am calling the event "An Afternoon With Chemistry" and hope to have lots of middle-school kids! I envision the crowd moving from demo to demo, with the attendees collecting items at each demo site.The items have been ordered from ACS and we will need to bring those to the park when we set up.
Each demo is estimated to take no more than 15 minutes, including a brief intro, the experiment, and a time for Q&A after. That should allow about eight times for each demo to be performed. We, meaning me and y'all and all volunteers, need to determine whether the same people will be performing a demo for the entire time or if new folk will "tag in" and alternate. I would like to have four demos going on simultaneously, to keep the energy high for the attendees. That will also allow maximum visibility for all attendees, so everyone has a chance to be close to the demo site.
I am hoping for at least twelve volunteers for these three hours.
That would give us two per demo to perform and one per demo to help attendees gather their gifts. More volunteers would be amazing!
What about the demonstrations? Well, just as I always did for my students, I prefer experiments that can be easily duplicated at
home, so they can be shared with family and friends. :-)
I have attached three for your consideration, from the ACS site.
I have contacted those folks to find out which demos they performed at a recent ACS meeting in California.
Okay! I think that may do it for now.
As always, your thoughts on the above are most welcome and I look forward to meeting you soon!
gratefully,
Dr. Faustina Smith
---------------- ----------------- ------------------
FAUSTINA SMITH
9/20/2019 2:35 PM
To Will Lynch, Cathy MacGowan, jim lobue
RE: FWD NCW event
Happy Friday, y'all!
Hey, y'all! Here is the copy of the message sent to Chelsea Miller and Elizabeth Loos.
JSYK
One more thing about our NCW Outreach event.
I had spoken to Laura Walker, with the City of Savannah Water Resources Department, after a talk last month at 100 miles.
That department has an activity book, "Saving Savannah's Water", which will make an excellent addition to our gift bags for
the Oct 20 attendees.
The 24-page activity book targets the same demographic as we will be.
Are there any objections to the inclusion of the book?
Tina
------------------ ------------------- ---------------
David Horwitz
9/23/2019 5:37 PM
To FAUSTINA SMITH Copy Patricia Galvan
RE: NCW event just one month away!
Hi Tina,
I’m so excited for NCW in general but also eager to observe and be a part of your outreach event at SERMACS. The event in San
Diego was great. You can see photos of the event here:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/AmericanChemicalSociety/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10157226490445708.
The theme of the San Diego meeting was “Chemistry and Water” and we did all our activities around water so I don’t have anything
about metals to share with you.
However, Patti was just at a conference training workshop attendees on three different activities on metals. She is back in the office tomorrow and I bet she’ll have some information about those activities to share.
Best,
David
----------------- -------------------- ---------------------
*
*
*
No reply yet from Chelsea or Elizabeth for my 9/20 email.
I sent a query on 9/23/2019 to make sure they had received the email.
Terse replies came back.
*
*
*
------------------- ------------------- ------------
Chelsea Miller
9/23/2019 6:15 PM
To FAUSTINA SMITH
RE: NCW event just one month away!
Yes, YCC will still be there as planned
[Note: No word on number of volunteers.]
----------------------- --------------------------------
Elizabeth Loos
9/23/2019 8:22 PM
To FAUSTINA SMITH
RE: NCW event just one month away!
I did.
Thank you.
- Elizabeth Loos
[Note: No word on number of volunteers.]
----------------- ----------------------------------
*
*
*
Okay, i was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Perhaps they were tied up with school work.
Perhaps I would hear more in a day or two.
Perhaps I was getting nervous about nothing...
right?
Again, as I'd said, I did not know these two students...
what might they do???
What might they not do???
After four long days, I reached out to another for help.
*
*
*
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FAUSTINA SMITH
9/27/2019 3:09 PM
To Will Lynch
RE: SERMACS Update 25 days out (email from Will)
Will,
I have contacted Elizabeth Loos and Chelsea Miller about the NCW event, but have not had a firm reply concerning volunteers
for the event.
Are those included in your Item 9 [9. Beverly is lining up volunteers and that list is starting to look solid. ]???
Tina
---------------------- ------------------- -----------------
Will Lynch
9/27/2019 3:19 PM
To FAUSTINA SMITH
RE: SERMACS Update 25 days out (email from Will)
Not to my knowledge, Beverly is only collecting volunteers for the in-house jobs.
Why not contact Jim LoBue and ask him to send out an request for volunteers for NCW from the local section.
-------------------- ----------------- -----------------------
*
*
*
I am retired and do not know any of the students. In other words,
I hold no sway over them... and now I'd been told to search on my own.
I was getting very frustrated and overwhelmed by the lack of support.
Just ask my friends and family about how jagged my nerves were from a
week-long lack of response from the two student groups - SA-ACS and YCC -
who were supposedly supplying "volunteers" for this event.
*
*
*
----------------------- -------------------- ------------------
Patricia Galvan
9/29/2019 9:22 PM
To FAUSTINA SMITH
RE: NCW event just one month away!
Hi Tina,
Give me a call at your convenience. I have a great couple of metals activity for you. The footwarmer activity I told you about
ages ago was just not dramatic enough. We need remarkable. We need the kind of activities that people will take photos of to
remember. These all do the job. However, this may be too many activities. How many stations will you have?
Etching on Copper Tape
Build a Battery
Squish Toy in a Vacuum
Drops of water vs. saltwater on a penny
Combine drops of yellow and blue liquids
Pencil electrolysis
Rainbow Trout
Self Inflating Balloon
I have an event in Milwaukee the week prior and so will ship the materials from this event to my Dad’s house. He lives in the Windsor Forest neighborhood and agreed to accept the packages. I will arrive in Savannah on October 16th so can touch base with you before the event and transfer items to you. Do you have some items you would like to do.
I will be able to give you the write-ups for all of these this week.
I want to clean up the write-ups a bit. My cell phone number is 571-xxx-xxxx so that you can text or call with questions and especially check in with me so that we can meet up with the supplies in Savannah.
Best,
Patti
---------------------- ------------------ ----------
*
*
*
At this point, more than a week had passed and I still had not
heard anything from Elizabeth or Chelsea concerning how many
volunteers would be available for this event as opposed to those
students intent on making an effort to impress their professors
at the events at the hotel.
I realized that I had nothing to lose.
I had recently seen "Downton Abbey" and been inspired by
Lady Maud Bagshaw's words.
None of these people were my husband or my father...
or my boss.
Time to lay things on the line.
*
*
*
----------------- ------------------ -----------------
FAUSTINA SMITH
10/2/2019 9:36 PM
To Will Lynch, jim lobue Copy Cathy MacGowan
RE: SERMACS Update 25 days out (email from Will)
Will and Jim,
When I volunteered at SERMACS, it was to serve as liaison with the City of Savannah to obtain permission to hold an NCW event
down on River Street.
Somehow, after succeeding in that task, my role was changed to being in charge of the NCW event itself, but I went along because
I was told I would have student volunteers to help out with the demonstrations.
Now, those student volunteers have been preempted into other roles and are not going to be available for the NCW event on that Sunday afternoon?
No, that is most assuredly a case of changing the rules while the game is in motion.
I have been thinking about this for several days now and am still quite disappointed.
Either I have support or I'm out.
As I am no longer teaching on-campus, I do not have ready access to others to take the place of those who were originally going to be part of the NCW event. That means that if the members of SA-ACS and YCC are tasked with other activities at SERMACS, then I am left stranded with no one to help with the demonstrations.
I absolutely cannot do this by myself.
So, what can be done to remedy this situation?
Tina
-------------------- ------------------- ------------
FAUSTINA SMITH
10/2/2019 9:42 PM
To Patricia Galvan
RE: NCW event just one month away!
Patti,
I have no idea what is going on now.
The volunteers who were to help with the demonstrations have been preempted into roles to help with registration on that Sunday afternoon.
I was told about that last Friday, when I told Will that I was not getting any commitments from the local SA-ACS nor from the YCC group.
I had thought they were to be involved for this Public Outreach event, but apparently they chose differently.
Any suggestions?
Tina
-------------------- ------------------ ----------------
Will Lynch
10/2/2019 9:47 PM
To FAUSTINA SMITH Copy jim lobue, Cathy MacGowan, Brent Feske
RE: SERMACS Update 25 days out (email from Will)
Well, I am sorry that you feel disappointed. I haven't been part of your conversations with Beverly about volunteers so I'm not sure if she has pushed that item. I will look into volunteers.
I asked if you could reach out to Jim to send a note out to the local section? I don't know what happened to that item, but I didn't get an email with that ask. I would say that out of a few hundred chemistry and biochemistry majors at GSU, Beverly has 4 total volunteering in the Marriott on Sunday afternoon.
Let me see how many I can come up with in the next few days, Thanks for your time and effort on this item, Will
----------------- ------------------- -------------------------
Will Lynch
10/2/2019 10:26 PM
To fsmith283@comcast.net Copy Chelsea Miller, jim lobue, Will Lynch,
Brent Feske, Catherine Macgowan
Sunday Oct. 20 Volunteer List Version A
NCWOutreachVol…eersOct20.xlsx (12.6 KB)
Here is the first round of volunteers and the emails.
The Coastal Georgia Local Section Younger Chemists Committee Officers are volunteering with the Sunday Oct 20 NCW Outreach event.
Chelsea Miller
Joseph Bazemore
Tarah Yared
Raven Dean
Briana Kinnel
Kenayana Thomas
As I get more volunteers, I will add them to the list (file attached) and send their names to you. Thanks so much. WLynch
----------------- -------------------- ---------------------
*
*
*
Dig that.
Almost immediately, he had six confirmed volunteers.
In fact, in just one hour, six STUDENTS had jumped to answer
his call to help at the NCW event.
All eager to make points with the professor, looking ahead to
when they would want a recommendation letter for grad school.
Sigh.
I knew the right cage to rattle, didn't I?
Okay, game on.
Time to proceed with event business, line up the media,
and get materials here!
Looks like there's going to be a party after all!
Hallelujah!
*
*
*
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It's me at a National Chemistry Week event in Tallahassee!
This was probably taken in 1988, maybe 1999, during my first two years at FSU.
I guess I was 30 or 31 years old.
That's my Alpha Chi Sigma brother, Tomas Berger, on the left, helping to bring delight to the kid who came to mall and found science going on!
What a glorious day we had...
and what a glorious one I'm hoping to have on October 20th!
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