Batteries, Bikes and a Summer to Remember

In a large, airy room at the Experimental Station on Chicago’s South Side, a group of high schoolers set and reset wires and electrodes until tiny LED lights flickered to life.

“I got it!” one yelled as a blue glow surrounded him.

The students had just built their first battery, guided by University of Chicago molecular engineering undergraduate Faustina Nforngwa. The activity was part of a demonstration about the science that powers e-bikes during the nonprofit Blackstone Bicycle Works’ Earn-a-Bike summer camp.

During the two-week camp, area high school students build their own bikes from parts while learning bike maintenance, job skills, life skills — and some science — along the way.

“The end goal is to create an experience that the youth will never forget. Just a positive, uplifting, inspirational opportunity for them. That’s the first thing,” said Blackstone Bicycle Works program manager Bruce Winston. “And second is we definitely want them to be inspired to facilitate some form of a career, whether it’s a trade or a college opportunity.”

UChicago PME staff members and students led similar engagements during each of the three summer sessions as part of an ongoing partnership between UChicago PME and Blackstone Bicycle Works, a program of Experimental Station.

Nforngwa said she was inspired by talks that working scientists gave at her high school in Cameroon.

“This is my own way of giving back to the community here in Chicago, and also for me to implement the knowledge and concepts I have learned in the classroom, which I believe will be helpful for the students as they go on to build their bikes and continue thinking and working as scientists and people,” Nforngwa said. 

Recent Kenwood Academy graduate Aniya Green hopes to take the summer’s lessons with her when she begins studying environmental studies at Northern Illinois University this fall.

“I feel like this goes hand in hand with that, but on a more technological aspect, to learn how to use batteries and make better environmentally friendly batteries,” she said.  

The partnership with Blackstone is just one of the many community outreach programs UChicago PME runs across the South Side, including Junior Science Cafés and the No Small Matter Molecular Engineering Fair for local middle school students, STEM lab internships for high schoolers, and the STEM Showcase and Battery Day demonstrations at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.

“Some of the most powerful STEM learning happens when students have the opportunity to investigate, experiment, and solve problems together,” Assistant Dean of Education and Outreach Laura Rico-Beck said. “Partnering with Blackstone Bicycle Works lets us connect engineering concepts to real-world challenges through hands-on activities, while giving our undergraduate students valuable experience communicating science in ways that are engaging and accessible.”

Jonathan Blidee, who will be a senior at Highland Park High School in the fall, has his eyes on a career in STEM, specifically in cybersecurity.

“I feel like I got a lot of connections and experience,” he said. “We were talking about bikes, but the lessons transferred to different skills in the real world.”

The Earn-a-Bike program is a popular one, with more than 100 applicants for the 45 slots this summer. Green urged even more of her peers to apply.

“Don’t be afraid to try new things, even though society may make it seem like it’s big and scary and overwhelming,” Green said. “Don’t let that fear hold you back.”

• Learn more about UChicago PME’s STEM Education & Community Outreach programs