Julie Halloran, a kindergarten teacher at Lake Contrary Elementary School, has a love for science she wants to share with students. So much so that she spends two afternoons a month leading the Hometown Scientist Club, bringing science to students.

It was when she was teaching fourth grade at Lake Contrary that Mrs. Halloran first thought of the club. She was showing her class a “Bill Nye the Science Guy” video featuring a scientist whose job included testing the carbon for Coca-Cola. She paused the tape to tell her students they could do that for a job.

“They said ‘Well, we don’t have scientists in this town,” she says.

And the idea for the Hometown Scientist Club was born. The club, now in its seventh year, is open to students in the third through fifth grades.

The students meet twice a month. At one meeting a month, Mrs. Halloran gives a science lesson. For the other meeting, a guest scientist from St. Joseph is brought in to present.

Mrs. Halloran has brought in scientists from a variety of fields, including meteorologists, veterinarians, chemists and even a woman who does pioneer science.

The club also conducts experiments, which have ranged from testing the density of objects to testing the polymers in different brands of diapers to experimenting with sound and vibration.

“I love to experiment,” says club member Presley Joswick, a fourth-grader at Lake Contrary. “It’s so fun because if you thought you knew stuff, you learn something new.”

The club, Mrs. Halloran says, gives children the chance to do hands-on experiments at a young age. Many students have to wait until junior high or high school for that.

“We get to do stuff like big scientists do,” says club member Lyndsey Ewart, also a fourth-grader at Lake Contrary.

Mrs. Halloran can see the club making an impact on her students, both academically and personally. Fellow teachers say they can always tell which students have been in the club, because they know so much.

And former students of hers, some now graduated from high school, come back and tell her the best thing about elementary school was science.

“It makes a connection,” she says.

“I honestly believe that there are kids here in our school that will follow science, that will go to college for it. They love it that much.”

Lifestyles reporter Lacey Storer can be reached at lstorer@npgco.com