Extracurricular Activities
Teachers should seek out opportunities for their students to connect classroom learning to the world around them.
By extending the focus of chemistry beyond the classroom, teachers can provide students with enriching activities designed to ignite students' interests and imagination.
ChemClubs
Teachers should seek out opportunities for their students to connect classroom learning to the world around them.
ACS ChemClubs are high school chemistry clubs that extend the focus of chemistry beyond the classroom. Teachers can provide students with enriching activities designed to ignite students' interests and imagination.
National Chemistry Week and Chemists Celebrate Earth Week
ACS local sections, schools, businesses, and individuals are invited to organize or participate in events in their communities with a common goal: to promote the value of chemistry in everyday life.
Chemistry Olympiad
The Chemistry Olympiad competition brings together the world's most talented high school students to test their knowledge and skills in chemistry, resulting in an International Chemistry Olympics.
Learn more about the exam and how your students can qualify. Help your students prepare with a library of past exams spanning nearly 20 years.
ChemMatters Magazine
ChemMatters is a magazine that helps high school students find connections between chemistry and the world around them. Published since 1983 by the ACS Education Division, ChemMatters engages students with real-world applications of scientific concepts they learn in the classroom.
Teachers may also consider encouraging students to apply to one of the many summer research programs that provide students with academic enrichment and real-world experience, where they work alongside scientists in a laboratory. Project SEED is a summer research program sponsored by ACS for economically disadvantaged students.
Other research opportunities are offered through local colleges or universities, in addition to government research facilities. Consider investigating the following organizations for opportunities for your students:
- Research Science Institute (RSI) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Science & Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP)
- American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
- Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research (SIP) at the National Institutes of Health
Students who are interested in pursuing chemistry at the college level can look for chemistry-related scholarships. ACS offers the ACS Scholars Program, which provides up to $5,000 to students from underrepresented minority groups who are interested in studying chemistry.
AACT is under the umbrella of ACS and has resources and support for everything mentioned in these guidelines.
