When it is Halloween on campus, there are signs of celebration everywhere. From costumes to props or decorations to word about all the parties, the spirit of the occasion can be sensed all around campus. One way, in which the holiday was celebrated yesterday, was a combining effort between the undergraduate and graduate chemistry society. It included food, decorations, costumes and games, but in a modified way to go with the chemistry theme.
The different types of costumes worn included a purple witch, an undertaker, a banana bond, an inspector gadget and many more. There were costume contests for the most creative, the funniest and the scariest. Of the games, one consisted of a pie eating contest. To add to the chemistry twist, on the whipped cream, an atomic letter was written and the contestants had to use their knowledge to say the name of the atom before ingesting the pie. The winner was Kanishk Kapilalakshmi, a graduate student with the Chemistry department.
Another game was the molecular structure building model race. The rules for this game were to have one partner grab two atoms from the middle of the room and bring it across half the room to the other partner, while his or her hands were tied behind their back. The partner who collected the atoms from the runner had to build the most valid, neutral weighed structure. Many people participated in this game. So much, that they had two rounds of five partners. Undergraduates, graduates and faculty all participated in the fun. Few of the faculty in the game included Professor Frank Fowler, Professor Robert Kerber, and Professor Stephen Koch. In the end, the winners were two undergraduates, Matt Graham and Kristen Gelhaus. They built a compound that weighed 936 atomic mass units.
Overall, the party atmosphere attracted most of the chemistry department. There was an estimated number of 60 people who attended the party. Prof. Koch, who is also a undergraduate chemistry advisor, said ‘the party was excellent. We are trying to revitalize the undergraduate chemistry society (UCS) and also bring both the undergraduate and graduate chemistry students together. A big credit should go to Prof. Millar.’
Professor Michelle Millar is the faculty advisor for the undregraduate society and was involved with organizing this event. When two undergraduates, Carson Dance and Krupa Gohil, were asked of their opinion of the party, they stated that it was fun and that there was ‘ good carrot cake.’ Both the president of the UCS, David Spritzer and president of the graduate chemistry society, Ruchi Gupta were happy with the success of the party. Prof. Koch also said, ‘This should the first of a tradition.’ ‘It was a lot of hard work, but people had fun,’ said Daniel Amarante, treasurer of the Graduate Chemistry society.