Asher Herman | January 19th, 2025
Vanderbilt’s mission statement claims to “work diligently in the service of others.” There are a multitude of ways to complete this, but there is one club in particular that sticks out when addressing the fulfillment of this mission. Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science (VSVS) is a service-based organization that brings Vanderbilt students to Nashville elementary and middle schools to teach them the basics of investigative learning and the scientific method. Four times per semester, each group of two to five students travels to a local school — the Rose Park Middle School, for example — to give the students an interactive STEM learning experience. To gain more insight on the club, I interviewed two freshman volunteers, Brooke Hudacek and Alyssa Miller.
On their experiences volunteering with VSVS
“My time as a VSVS volunteer has been a very chill, low commitment experience working with knowledgeable, eager kids,” Miller said.
Miller and Hudacek both noticed that the young students are not only interested in science but also in college life, making them feel like both teachers and mentors. Hudacek also discussed what it’s like to have a connection to Nashville outside of Vanderbilt.
“It is really fun to mix up my routine, step off campus once a week, and intermingle myself with the Nashville community,” Hudacek said. “I am proud to see the tangible impact I am helping to create outside of campus.”
On the most interesting scientific concept they have taught
This club takes a broad range of complicated scientific topics and prompts the students to think about them with an investigative mind. In Miller’s classroom, they developed a model of deep ocean current mechanisms. She began by demonstrating water density, which plays an important role in stratification and the way water moves around the globe.
“I had the kids each prepare a container of salt water and a container of fresh water,” Miller said. “We sprinkled pepper in each container and observed how it would sink in freshwater but float in salt water, demonstrating differences in density.”
The classroom then went on to connect ocean stratification and deep ocean currents to the global temperature distribution and regulations.
In Hudacek’s classroom, they tapped into chemistry and technology when they built a wet-cell battery. A wet-cell battery is a device that produces electricity using the movement of electrolytes in a liquid solution. This type of battery is used for car batteries and as backup power, as they tend to have a longer lifespan.
“Made possible by its water concentration, my class made their wet-cell battery using metal electrodes stuck in a potato,” Hudacek said.
She used zinc and copper plates to attract ions inside the potato from one electrode to the other, creating a circuit, and generating electricity. These types of science experiments have proven engaging and informative for the students VSVS interacts with.
Image: VSVS_2.jpeg Photo courtesy of Paige Ellenberger and VSVS
On how volunteering has affected their academic experience at Vanderbilt
Through VSVS, STEM teaching experiences prove to translate seamlessly into an undergraduate’s learning experience.
“Volunteering with the students motivates me to be more patient with my own learning,” Hudacek said. “Everyone has something to learn from someone.”
Miller shared a similar sentiment.
“The organization allows me to gain a deeper understanding of the concepts I am learning, because I have learned how to break down complex scientific concepts and explain them simply,” Miller said.
VSVS is a club worthy of this spotlight. The volunteers bring Vanderbilt and local middle- and elementary-school students together in a classroom to foster learning and growth for both parties. VSVS is a great club to participate in for someone who wants to step off campus and into a different realm of STEM learning.
The student signup link to volunteer with VSVS can be found here.
Cover photo courtesy of Paige Ellenberger and VSVS
References
“About.” Vanderbilt University, April 15, 1970. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/about/#
Wet Cell Battery Definition | Cambridge English Dictionary. Accessed November 6, 2024. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/wet-cell-battery.