From left Nathan Toma, Jay’son Thomas and Cooper Williams discuss results of a pill-dissolving experiment set up by the Wilkes University school of Pharmacy as one of several learning opportunities for SHINE after school program students Tuesday. They were among about 60 area elementary and middle school students participating in a “College Student for a day” program at Wilkes.
Mark Guydish |Times Leader
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Kistler Elementary third grade student Nathan Toma shows how his Tylenol capsule dissolved after enough time in liquid and a little gentle stirring. He was participating in a Wilkes University”College Student for a Day” program for the SHINE After school program Tuesday.
Mark Guydish |Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — Given a plastic spoon and told to stir the tablet he’d been watching dissolve in water, Cooper Williams asked what seemed like a question full of anticipation and mischief.
“Will it explode?”
“I hope not,” the Wilkes University student overseeing the experiment answered, likely disappointing the second grader from Hanover Area School District.
Wilkes hosted about 60 elementary and middle school students from the SHINE after school program Tuesday for a “College Student for a Day” experience, with chances to enjoy activities in civil engineering, biology, psychology, mixed media art, education, nursing, time with a radio DJ and a little pharmacy lesson called “pop, pop, fizz, fizz.”
Cooper teamed with Nathan Toma and Jay’son Thomas from Wilkes-Barre Area School Districts. All three got the same amount of liquid in a little container akin to dosing cups from cold medicines, but each had a different style of pill. They quickly turned the experiment into a race to which pill dissolves first. “I’m winning,” Cooper said with conviction shortly before adults started doling out plastic spoons and Wilkes pharmaceutical practices assistant professor Letitia Warunek told the youngsters to gently stir the water.
Maybe Cooper was winning, but it seemed as though Nathan’s coated caplet, long looking particularly inert while the other two pills fizzled gently, suddenly disintegrated, to the point he could pull out some red goopy remains of the coating from the swirling particles of the inner, powdery content.
The day started with some comments from Wilkes President Greg Cant. Then the SHINE students were broken into elementary and middle school groups and headed off to one location after another for a chance to see parts of the school’s facilities, and join in educational activities that just happened to be fun. There were four sessions in the morning, a lunch, and three sessions in the afternoon.
SHINE is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) based after school program funded through private and public sources that currently is available in six Luzerne County school districts for students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Wilkes University has served as one of the partners for SHINE since it was brought to Luzerne County in 2014, having already been available in neighboring Carbon and Schuylkill counties for several years before that.
Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish