By Jade Floyd
May 1, 2006

Hamilton (NJ) Mayor Glen Gilmore and thirty-two children from Our Lady of Sorrows Elementary participated in a Science in the School Day with DuPont and the Conference of Mayors Cities United for Science Progress (CUSP) partnership March 24. DuPont Field Engineer Kwa King jumpstarted the program with a fun, hands-on project exploring basic engineering principles. During the experiment, students applied the techniques learned from King to conduct a science experiment called the puff mobile, derived from the popular children’s television show ZOOM.

Known as “New Jersey’s Shining Star,” Hamilton is the first city to ever hold a Science in the School Day in a private school. Gilmore led the students as they built puff mobiles using everyday materials like drinking straws, lifesavers, paper, scotch-tape and paperclips. The students knew the mayor well as he has been known to stop by a few times every month to keep up to speed on their progress. The faculty and the students were some of the most excited that the CUSP has experienced in the five years of the partnership. Gilmore rooted on the two competing fourth grade classes. The students concluded the experiment by racing their puff mobiles. Students scrambled up and down the hallways at the elementary school puffing away as Gilmore judged the heats. The first-place winner Jeff Gordon received a chocolate DuPont NASCAR for his victory.

At the end of the morning after the winner was announced, Gilmore treated the entire fourth grade (and CUSP) to a pizza party. King, the CUSP team and the mayor sat with the students and answered their questions for the entire lunch period about where they were from and what they did. One student asked the mayor what he did all day. The mayor replied, “Meetings.” The child answered back, “That doesn’t sound like much fun.” Everyone laughed. This summed up the morning in Hamilton. All the kids learned important science principles and had fun doing so led by an outgoing mayor who sincerely cares about the students in his community.

“The City of Hamilton would like to thank DuPont and the Conference of Mayors for bringing the Science in the School Day to the children here at Our Lady of Sorrows Elementary School. These children were able to experience science in fun and challenging atmosphere,” said Gilmore. “When you make learning fun for students, it gives them confidence that they can take on difficult subject matter. Hopefully we were able to encourage more children to explore a career in the subjects which challenge America’s school children the most – science and mathematics,” he concluded.

CUSP is a partnership between The United States Conference of Mayors and DuPont. Through the $3 million Lead'safe…for Kids’ Sake grant program more than 30 cities have received grants and the acclaimed Science in the School Day initiative has visited more than 54 cities with close to 14,000 elementary school children participating.

For more information on how to bring Science in the School Day to your city, contact CUSP Managing Director Jade Floyd at 202-466-7324 or send e-mail to jfloyd@usmayors.org.