By: Lance Lawton

We may not have Bill Nye on campus to entertain us with science, but the Alchemist Club is the next-best thing at Western.

The Alchemist Club is a student science organization that allows students on-and-off campus to come
together, execute various experiments and admire all things associated with chemistry. Junior biochemistry molecular biology major Rebecca Prest explained that members of the club do not just perform experiments all day; they also help each other out academically.

“We sit down with one another and look at graduate schools together,” Prest said. “We also look for future
career opportunities and tech schools; along with that, we also help each other out with any homework
we have. The room we’re usually in is what we call the “Mentor Room,” and there is usually someone in
there that can support us whenever we need chemistry help.”

Alchemist Club President Merle Phillips said that the Alchemist Club has been around at Western for almost 50 years and is still pushing to provide campus and the community with the opportunity to learn more about science.

“Science should be free and open to the public,” Phillips said. “We love being able to interact with the
students and anyone else who is interested in any sort of science.”

The Alchemist Club holds two major events every year: The Fire and Ice Show (formerly known as Pumpkin Blasting) and Super Science Saturday. The Fire and Ice Show, performed on Nov. 1, was filled with grade school-type experiments, from making a whoosh bottle to setting a pumpkin on fire. Super Science Saturday occurred in January 2019, attracting almost 2,000 people from the community to experience various types of science experiments.