With many active clubs on campus, there’s always something to do after school at Wilcox. One of these clubs is Wilcox’s Science Club, which is a small club that aims to spread knowledge and appreciation for all STEM subjects.

Science Club has meetings every Wednesday. An average science club meeting consists of planning, building, and observing. It is mostly a student-run club, so members of the club teach each other about the mechanics behind their experiments.

Science Club has had many successes in their past projects. For example, last year, the club was known for their trebuchet project, which the team built over the course of a few months. Club members worked together to build a launching device out of scrap wood. After many months of hard work, the club finally achieved its end and created a successful trebuchet. Along with the trebuchet project, the club also had its first astronomy night last year, which they plan to have annually. Everyone was welcome to the activity, which had a great turnout and beautiful views of Jupiter and the Orion Nebula.

More recent projects include a cosmic ray detector, brushbots, flame tests, Van de Graaff generators, and much more. The club makes projects that are not only fun, but also informative and affordable. With fish tanks, felt, rubbing alcohol, and the perfect temperature, the students were able to detect particles of radiation with their cosmic ray detectors. Science Club Co-President Shishir Dholakia said, “I loved the fact that seemingly abstract subatomic particles were made visible so simply. We’ve been taught that certain objects are radioactive and emit particles and that cosmic rays are constantly bombarding the Earth, but we never have a chance to visualize that.”

While the club spends meetings doing new projects and experiments, the group also does other activities outside of their meetings. For example, the club competes in a Science Bowl every year. This is a jeopardy-like competition in which the competitors’ knowledge of science is tested. Topics include Earth and space, energy, biology, chemistry, physics, and math. The club will compete in a science bowl competition at Sandia on February 27th. The club has also held its own “Teachers versus students” science bowl competition in the Wilcox quad, in which five science club members tested their knowledge against five of Wilcox’s science teachers. In the end, Science Club members held victory over the teachers.

While Science Club aims to educate students on science, the club also educates on subjects besides STEM. Science Club members are motivated individuals who have learned how to work together to create something incredible. The club often works together to understand concepts and solve problems. Science club fundraiser and member, Devaki Dikshit, mentioned, “I like how interested and motivated everyone is to get a project going. In Science Club, I’m not just putting stuff together or following a procedure to complete an experiment. I’m actually learning not only how it works but a bunch of esoteric, yet interesting things along the way.”

Additionally, the club members not only learn how to think logically, but also how to think creatively. Many of the most seemingly simple projects were turned into greater learning experiences due to members’ creativity and curiosity. For example, in one experiment, members looked at chlorophyll under UV light. Shashank Dholakia, Science Club Co-President, said, “The chlorophyll fluorescence project was my favorite because people had some very creative ideas. Especially when one member had an insightful idea to use a tool we had created for a previous project [spectroscope] and use it to study chlorophyll fluorescence. It was proof that the creativity and curiosity involved in trying new ideas are the foundations for great science.”

Science club welcomes anyone to participate in club activities. The club meets in S-120 every Wednesday after school. The club also encourages anyone to go to astronomy night, which will be held on March 18th near the basketball courts.