St. Rose of Lima School, Freehold, is employing innovative ways to teach scientific principles to its students, creating mad scientists and shredding boarders in the process.

Weekly after-school sessions have been creating white-coated wonders of the test tube during the hour-long “Mad Science” programs. The western New Jersey based company of the same name teaches the students scientific principles in hands-on sessions each Monday afternoon in six week increments. “They give [the students] small tasks on a level they can comprehend,” stated Erin Oese, St. Rose of Lima PTA program coordinator.

The children, from all grade levels of the Catholic school, have been combining fun and facts in the “Crazy Chemworks” unit this fall. Instructors lead them through experiments which help them discover how laboratory equipment works, the discovery of pH factors in common liquids, and the properties of light while making things glow in the dark. The youth also have worked with polymers and made their own slime; each budding scientist is given an index card with facts about the project to reinforce the lessons.

Science and motion collided March 27 as the entire St. Rose of Lima student body gathered in the gymnasium for the “skateboard science” assembly. A team of professional skateboarders from the Philadelphia-based company Wondergy showed off their best moves while explaining the methods behind their aerial artistry.

Students cheered from the bleachers at each boarder’s routine which reinforced a scientific principle. The skaters’ proper use of pads and safety helmets illustrated the distribution of force, while the concepts of momentum, inertia and center of gravity came alive atop their polyurethane-coated wheeled wooden planks. Spins and ollies enthralled the students as they tested their own balance and center of mass.

“Students learned how science is being used in skateboarding, but they also loved the actual skateboarding routines,” noted PTA publicity contact Patricia Koch.