By Jennifer Calloway
May 21, 2007

Savannah (GA) Mayor Otis Johnson was right at home when he arrived at Garrison Elementary School April 13. The former School Board President received a warm welcome from more than 70 third graders and a dozen faculty and staff members. Johnson’s visit was prompted by Cities United for Science Progress (CUSP), the educational partnership between DuPont and The U.S. Conference of Mayors. Now in its sixth year, CUSP works to bridge the gap between politics and education by creating opportunities for mayors across the country to use science as vehicle to connect with their youngest constituents.

DuPont Engineer Rebecca Rieland, from the Fayetteville (NC) plant, and Johnson spent the entire morning leading the third graders in constructing their own geometric domes made from toothpicks and spice gum drops. The purpose of the experiment was to teach students basic civil-engineering principles, primarily how a triangle is stronger than a square when building various structures from bridges to domes.

The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System has over 25 elementary schools but only one, Garrison Elementary School, was recently among the Georgia Department of Education’s 30 most improved schools. Horace Magwood, Director of Science Instruction for the Savannah-Chatham School System, and his colleagues were delighted to offer this opportunity to the students. With the help of their teachers, the third graders spent the previous week learning about different dome structures in and around Savannah.

To kick-off the experiment, Magwood began with an introduction that included a nod to his mentor, Johnson. Magwood explained how Johnson had taken interest in him long before he became a teacher and an administrator. He ended by encouraging the children to enjoy their lesson and consider science as a viable career option.

The event peaked when, upon finishing their domes, the students were given a chance to test the strength of the structures. One by one, Johnson called each student to the front of the room to pile books on top of the domes they built. After the 15th book towered on top of the domes, the room grew tense as each student took a little more care in positioning each book. Once the crowd counted aloud to 20 books the structures caved in, leaving the kids simultaneously amazed and perplexed.

Rieland ended the event with a lively Q&A session that included everything from doing clean-up at the Mobile plant during Hurricane Katrina to her favorite ice cream flavor. All in all, the day ended with a few future engineers rushing the stage at the end to ask more questions, and Johnson reminiscing about his days on the school board.

One month after the event, the CUSP staff received an e-mail from Garrison Elementary School Principal Renae Miller-Mccullough thanking DuPont and the Conference of Mayors. “This experience has sparked a greater interest among our students to explore science at a greater level,” she stated. CUSP forwarded a list of experiments to keep the students engaged, and were delighted to know that with the help of Johnson and the Savannah-Chatham school system, CUSP was able to make a difference.