This year, we had more than 1,400 students representing over 40 high schools throughout Los Angeles County take the Local ACS Exam in March. Harvard-Westlake High School finished first overall while North Hollywood High School edged out Arcadia High School by one point to finish first for first year students. The winners of the local exam were invited to participate in the National Exam on April 13th at Occidental College for a chance to be part of the International Olympiad in July in Moscow, Russia. These students, as well as the top performers and teachers from each school of 10 or more participants, will be honored at our annual Educational Awards Banquet, along with the Paul Shin Memorial High School Teacher of the Year, Paul Bender (see page 4 for his biography).

Reservations: We have an Enchilada Buffet featuring chicken and cheese enchiladas with all the fixings. The cost of the dinner is $20 per person or $15 for students, cash or check at the door. Please call Nancy Paradiso in the Section Office at 310 327-1216 or email office@scalacs.org by Monday, May 13, 2013 for reservations. Note: Please honor your reservation. If you make a reservation and do not attend, you will be liable for the cost of the dinner.

Directions: The meeting will take place in the Donahue Center in McIntyre Hall on the Doheny Campus. For directions, please go to http://www.msmc.la.edu/about-msmc/our-campuses/driving-instructions.asp.

Nothing makes me happier then to be able to announce Paul Bender as the annual winner of the Paul Shin Memorial Award for High School Chemistry Teaching. Paul has been teaching at Whitney High School since the fall of 1993. Paul got his Bachelors at Biola University in 1993 and then started at Whitney immediately after that. He also earned a Masters degree (also from Biola) along the way in 2003. He has been teaching AP Chemistry since 2008.

Paul has regularly had students placing in the top of the section on the yearly ACS High School Chemistry Olympiad and has many students take part in the semifinal exam. In 2010 one of his students made it all the way to a medal at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Turkey. Our local Olympiad sponsor had much praise for Paul and thought him a excellent choice as this year’s winner.

Paul’s nominating letters from students show a true dedication to the profession. Sacrificing countless hours beyond the required to his students. His administrators and colleagues praised him as a not only truly dedicated to the school and it’s students but also to working very closely with the rest of the faculty. He has been a class sponsor and also brave enough to chaperone students on out of state trips, a challenge I am very familiar with, and it takes true dedication to undertake such a challenge.

It is rare these days to see such dedication as Paul displays. The students from my school participate in many academic competitions and meet the students from Whitney pretty regularly. They are a force to be reckoned with and now after seeing what Paul has done I can understand why. Whitney is very fortunate to have such a strong and dedicated individual as Paul Bender.

Paul will receive a $500 cash award from the local section, a plaque for display in his classroom, recognition at this year’s awards banquet, and bragging rights as this year’s winner. In addition we will forward his application next year for the Western Regional ACS Award.

- Michael Morgan, Chair, Education Committee
Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School

We will have 4 stations at which we will guide the Scouts in various activities. Station 1 will deal with Chemical Safety and Environmental Affairs. Station 2 will include hands on activities dealing with basic chemical reactions. Station 3 will be the building of a Cartesian Diver. The fourth station will be an area for the Scouts to fill out their Merit Badge worksheets and ask questions of us Chemists. The badge requirements as well as the workbook we will be using are linked here:

Badge Requirements

Merit Badge Workbook

Scout Expo Link

Map

Setup will begin at 9:00 am. Our first Scouts will start the activities at 10:00 am. Wrap-up begins at 3:15 pm.

We are hoping to help at least 80 Scouts earn their Chemistry Merit Badge! With this many Scouts we will need a minimum of 2 instructors for every station. Shifts are 2 hours long and overlap the previous shift by 30 minutes so you may observe the station before taking over. If you would like to volunteer for multiple shifts you may. The different shifts begin at 9:30am, 10:00am, 11:30am, 12:00pm, 1:30pm and 2pm. If you would like to come earlier for setup or stay later for take down that would be appreciated

Lunch is not provided but there will be snacks and beverages. There will also be cooler that you are welcome to store your lunches in.

Parking for the event will be at Gate 6 and costs $5 per vehicle. We do have a limited number of passes. People carpooling or who sign up for multiple shifts will have priority access to these.

If you would like to help out with the activities please call Derek Marin at 805-459-6046 or e-mail (Derek.Marin@DunnEdwards.com) before Wednesday, May 29th.

Members are also invited to attend our Executive Committee Meetings. This is a great way to see our Section governance in action! The Executive Committee Meetings are held the first Wednesday of each month (excluding December, June, July and August) at 7:30 p.m. The meetings are held at the Mount St. Mary’s Doheny campus. Please call Nancy at the Section Office for directions and to let her know that you are attending.

We hope to see you soon at an upcoming meeting or volunteering at an outreach event!