By Club Alchemy
Calling all Chemistry enthusiasts!
If you are interested in chemistry and would like to spend a bit of time each week to learn more, then Alchemy Club is the right CCA for you! During club sessions, which are held weekly on Monday afternoons from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm, members are able to learn interesting, enriching and easy-to-understand chemistry outside of the school syllabus. Additionally, they also have the opportunity to perform fun and exciting practicals that sometimes yield delectable products, ranging from tastebud-teasing ice-cream to savoury carrot soup.
Club Alchemy, as a CCA, differs from the school’s various other chemistry enrichment programmes, such as Chemistry Raffles Academy and the Chemistry Olympiad training programme. We welcome all students to join us as long as they have a passion for chemistry and are interested to learn more of it. Often, we aim to provide members with a different perspective towards various chemistry topics. For example, one of our recent sessions sought to “unveil H2 scams”, seeking to point out various theoretical flaws in the H2 content in the topics of bonding, atomic structure and equilibria. We also aim to make the connections between what we have learnt in the classroom and the experiences in our daily lives, demonstrating the relevance of chemistry as the central science.
Have a specific area of Chemistry in which you feel strongly passionate about? Fear not, for all Alchemists will have the chance to share that passion and knowledge with others in the CCA. Every member of the CCA has the liberty of proposing ideas for club sessions and, if deemed feasible, these activities would certainly be carried out. “Unveiling H2 scams” actually spawned as an idea from one of our members!
Typically, we organise an overnight CCA camp every year, where we bond as a CCA while having fun through various activities and games. Activities for CCA camp in 2019 include Chemistry-themed war games, jeopardy quizzes and many more. We would also arrange for a year-end industrial Chemistry workshop, in which members can learn more about the industrial applications of Chemistry, such as in cosmetics, as well as in perfumery. The most recent workshop featured the making of various cosmetics, including sunblock and lip balm. We even got to bring home our samples as souvenirs!
Just as in the past, we have many exciting theory sessions and practicals in store for you in 2019! You will have the opportunity to make your very own chocolate, try your hand at synthesizing some beautiful crystals and of course meet and work with many others with the same burning passion for Chemistry through intra-CCA group competitions and other interesting games. At the end of the 1.5-year journey with us, we hope that you would be proud to continue identifying yourself as an Alchemist!
