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Students from Angeredsgymnasiet invited to Chalmers chemistrylabs

​For several years, the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has opened its laboratories for students in the sciences program at “Angeredsgymnasiet”, a secondary school in the suburb Angered. The students get access to a well-equipped lab environment while the visit can facilitate and provide inspiration for future study and career choices.

After a few years of pandemic break, it is finally possible to resume cooperation with Angeredsgymnasiet, and let a new group of secondary school students get to know Chalmers and the chemistry laboratories in April 2022. The students' teacher Malin, who is part of the cooperation for the first time, sees it as very valuable for her students.

“It is a great opportunity to have access to laboratories like this. These students are studying in their first year at the science program and several of them have not been allowed to work in laboratories their schools before”, says Malin Bengtsson teacher at Angeredsgymnasiet.

The schedule for today's visit, is a security review by Ulf Jäglid, vice Head Of Department and responsible for the undergraduate program and Lynga Normann Huang Research Engineer at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

The safety in a laboratory is crucial. It is only after this review and during the next visit that the students will start working in the laboratories. To make sure that everyone has listened and perceived the information, they have to answer a test after Ulf's review. After that is done, Lynga continues to talk about safety and takes the students on a short tour in the laboratory, in smaller groups.

Valuable now and for future choices

In the first group to go on the tour, we find Ahmed Mahmoud. He already knows Chalmers a bit. It started with a friend telling him that he could get help in math from a Chalmers student and then Ahmed became a member of the association Intize, which works with mentorship in mathematics. Now he is looking forward to working in the chemistry laboratory in a few weeks.
"You can do completely different laboratory work capered to what we do at our school, because we get access to many more different materials. It feels very good to be able to come to a laboratory like this and see what it is all about, says Ahmed.

It is not at all impossible that Ahmed will be back at Chalmers eventually. He is considering becoming a doctor but he doesn´t rule out that he might be interesting to do something in the chemistry field too. Wherever it ends up, Chalmers and Angeredsgymnasiet hope that the collaboration will equip him and his classmates with new valuable input and experience for future career choices.

"A collaboration like this has not only a great value for the education they are currently attending but also for their opportunities for future studies, says Malin Bengtsson. 
From the department's side, the wish is that the students will get a taste of chemistry and that it will be easier for them to be able to choose a higher education like Chalmers.

"We know that the access to a university like Chalmers is still affected a lot by where a young person lives and how much experience of higher education there is at home. We need to change that and we hope this collaboration can be a small step in the right direction", says Ulf Jäglid
When the students come to Kemihuset next time, it will be time to put on their lab coats and goggles just like any other the researcher or student in the building. But there is a difference. You can read Angeredsgymnasiet on the coats, which is a contribution by one of the chemical industry companies with which the department collaborates.
Ulf Jäglid
  • Senior Teaching Fellow, Energy and Materials, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
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