UTSA, Girls Inc. work to inspire next class of STEM students

DECEMBER 18, 2024 — A student research team in the UTSA Department of Chemistry has been recognized for its outreach to middle and high school students. Their work is detailed in “Analysis of Food Extracts with Thin Layer Chromatography: A STEM Outreach Activity,” a peer-reviewed research article published in the Journal of Chemical Education.

A UTSA team consisting primarily of undergraduate and graduate students performed an innovative STEM outreach activity that was held at the Harvey E. Najim Girls Inc. of San Antonio Campus last January. The activity involved analyzing extracts from common food items using thin layer chromatography (TLC), a research technique that separates compounds in non-volatile mixtures.

Middle and high school students participated in the outreach activity, which was led by the Yoshimoto Lab, a research team under the direction of Francis Yoshimoto, assistant professor of chemistry. The activity helped the student leaders from the advisor’s laboratory in communicating science techniques to grade school students to help them appreciate the application of chemistry outside of a classroom or lab.

“The outreach activity was beneficial for both my students and those who participated from Girls Inc. for several reason.”

Two UTSA undergraduate students, Anna Elizondo and Jose Urbiola, and two UTSA doctoral students, Tu Ho and Kaitlyn Varela, are members of the lab and were involved in the project to teach middle and high school students in the Eureka STEM program at Girls Inc. of San Antonio about TLC. Eureka is a year-round program that engages girls in grades eight through 12 with monthly meetings and a four-week summer day camp involving college campus tours, goal setting activities, and meetings with STEM professionals to learn about career opportunities.

The purpose of the outreach activity was to demonstrate to middle and high school students how chemistry can be applied in the real world and to inspire interest in STEM. The students participated in an experiment where they analyzed different ethanolic or ethyl acetate extracts of familiar food items (e.g., beverages, leaves, vegetables, and citrus peels) using TLC.

“The outreach activity was beneficial for both my students and those who participated from Girls Inc. for several reasons,” said Yoshimoto. “It was the first time my research students applied the technique that they normally perform in my lab to a direct real-world scenario by separating mixtures of components from different food items from the grocery store and they were able to communicate this research technique to middle and high school participants in the San Antonio area to show how chemistry could be used to study the world around us.”

Girls Incorporated of San Antonio (Girls Inc. of San Antonio) was established in 2004 and is a subsidiary group of the national Girls Inc. organization, which helps girls from ages six to 18 overcome obstacles that prevent them from achieving their personal, educational, and career goals.

— Ryan Schoensee