Science can go beyond The Table of the Elements, as The Chemistry Club helps students to understand how chemistry is a part of different aspects of life. Adelina Fardella, a senior biology major and president of The Chemistry Club, states, “In the Chemistry Club, we host activities
where students can have fun and learn chemistry at the same time.”
The Chemistry Club according to its constitution, works to “to afford the opportunity for the students of chemistry and the chemical sciences
to become better acquainted, to secure experience in preparing and presenting technical material before chemical audiences, to foster a professional spirit among the members, [and] to instill a professional pride in chemistry and the chemical sciences.”
The club also serves to help students with their future endeavors. The constitution states the club looks “to prepare the student for graduate and professional school and to advise the students of opportunities in chemistry, the chemical sciences, and related fields.”
Indeed, The Chemistry Club connects students to The American Chemical Society (ACS). Their constitution continues: “Being an ACS chapter will be beneficial to the Pace Science majors as it will expose them to chemical science and its opportunities. Students can get access to ACS
Fall and Spring meetings where they get to meet professional researchers to learn about careers in chemistry, current research, and network.”
Meetings that are held by ACS also give students opportunities to obtain experience in their field of interest “Students can also gain access to internship, fellowship, and co-op opportunities with top research universities.”
Additionally, The Chemistry Club helps non-science majors learn about the subject of chemistry. One activity that the club hosted was “The Slime Making Event,” held during National Chemistry Week in October of 2024. Students used such items as shaving cream and
food coloring to make slime. The club also collaborated with Partnership of Women for Empowerment and Respect(POWER) to host
“Dr. Jekyll’s Mad Scientist Mocktail Bar.” For this event, students mixed different drinks such as lemonade and tea, and watched how these drinks changed color. In “The Chemistry of Love Paint and Sip,” students learned how chemistry can exist in art, as students mixed colors and painted different pictures.
“We hope to continue hosting fun events on campus…to continue bringing awareness of the club to our own Pace Pleasantville community,” Fardella said.
Another goal of The Chemistry Club is mentoring underclassmen with academic and career opportunities. The club works to create “a community where STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors can express what they are struggling with academically. Having the community will be beneficial as upperclassmen will be able to assist the underclassmen.”
The Chemistry Club hosts “Study with The Chemistry Club,” in which club members help students study for exams as well as with assignments such as lab reports. Students can receive help in mathematics, biology, chemistry, and physics.
Adelina Fardella continues, “When students attend these study sessions, they get to be part of a peer-based community. Students can obtain
help in their classes from club members who took these classes.”
Outside of Pace, The Chemistry Club looks to establish connections with different high schools and middle schools.
“Most of our e-board members’ interests in STEM were sparked in high school when they either had ACS-affiliated campus clubs or scientists visit their high school for an experiment,” said Fardella.
As these clubs and scientists influenced The Chemistry Club’s e-board members to study science, The Chemistry Club wants to encourage high school and middle school students to pursue the sciences. A goal listed in The Chemistry Club’s constitution states, “We hope to get in contact with at least three to six high schools or middle schools in the Westchester area to host a classroom event or send some club members to judge at their science fairs. Doing that will help us to inspiring the next generation of chemists and scientists.”
Members of the club spoke to students at a local high school about different items that can be found in the kitchen, such as baking soda and table salt. Members also demonstrated an experimental procedure known as thin-layer chromatography to the middle school students. In this procedure, students saw how different colors move up a plate.
Fardella commented on what The Chemistry Club looks to do in the future. “As most of the e-board members are seniors and we are looking for our new board for the Fall 2025- Spring 2026 school year, we want to encourage students to take on a leadership role and continue
the legacy of The Chemistry Club.”
The Chemistry Club would also hope to see the students whom the club mentored and inspired to help underclassmen in the future. Fardella states, “The club is all about bringing awareness to the life sciences, encourage students to ask for help (especially at the study sessions), and hopefully one day those same students we were able to reach out to and help will be interested in taking on a leadership role providing the same encouragement for the underclassmen that proceed them.”