March 7, 2017 - Sargent & Lundy recently participated in a "Girl Scouts Get to Know Nuclear" event co-sponsored by the local Chicago chapters of American Nuclear Society (ANS), Women In Nuclear (WIN), and North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN). The annual event aims to teach Girl Scouts about nuclear science and help them earn a Get to Know Nuclear patch.
ANS, working with the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana Council, established the Get to Know Nuclear patch, which can be earned by any Scout in the U.S. who meets the requirements. The Get to Know Nuclear patch requirements focus on learning about nuclear science and technology through teamwork, and are flexible so scouts of all ages can Get to Know Nuclear.
Exelon hosted this year’s half day event at its Cantera office, with sixty Juniors (4th-5th graders) and Cadettes (6th-8th graders) from the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana participating. Volunteers included employees and retirees of Exelon, Argonne National Labs, and ANS in addition to Sargent & Lundy, all with varied backgrounds and experiences. The event included breakout sessions on detecting radiation and cloud chambers, lab coat dress up and source hunt, short nuclear career discussions, fission and fusion fun, atom models, and the history of women in nuclear.
Sargent & Lundy’s Liz Mattson taught the ‘Fission and Fusion Fun’ session, which included a fission game where girl scouts used balloons – blue for neutrons, and red for protons – to recreate nuclei behavior. The interactive game demonstrated to the students how fission and the chain reaction work.
This is Sargent & Lundy's second year participating in the event.
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