Renovations to the chemistry lab at Saint John Vianney High School began during the summer of the 2015-2016 school year. SJV held a walkathon on May 19, 2015 to raise the money to fund this project.

After tirelessly working through the summer to prepare for the first day of school, the new chemistry lab was completed and ready for use. The lab is completely brand new, equipt with new white boards, storage units, sinks, tables, chairs, flooring, and a new projector.

Mrs. Hudzik, a chemistry teacher at Saint John Vianney, stated that she “loves how clean the new lab is,” and went on to explain the importance of cleanliness when doing labs with chemicals. The chemistry lab also upgraded in equipment, and Hudzik said that there is a new 3-D projector which is “perfect for projecting molecules.”

She also went on to explain how this new lab is much safer. “Now, there is access to the experiment from all sides of the lab table which gives students more space to walk around, which is necessary when handling materials from the experiment.” Before, there was only access to the table on three sides, which made it difficult to move around when carrying equipment.

“More storage is very useful because now there is easy access to all of the equipment.” said Hudzik. The new, larger storage units were a necessary addition to the lab because they provide more space to put all of the equipment to prevent anything from being damaged due to limited access.

Maggie Gibson, a former chemistry student at SJV, explained that the new chemistry lab offers “more room to work” which she feels that the former lab lacked. Gibson also shared that the renovations gave students the opportunity to work in larger groups because of the larger table size, which she missed out on during her chemistry class last year.

Jen Schopmann, another former chemistry student, added to Gibson’s comments by saying that she felt she would have benefited from having the interaction with more than two other students at her table.

Sophomores Jeanette Olsen and Erica Blackburn are current chemistry students who both agreed that the new lab is going to impact their experience in chemistry in a positive way. Olsen said that she “loves walking into the bright lab everyday.” Blackburn feels that the new lab is going to “enrich her learning experience” by giving her the tools to be more hands-on during the experiments. The new chemistry lab is a major improvement that is going to give many students the opportunity to be very successful.