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Seniors React to Field Trip
HOLY SUGAR! Sugar is derived from sugar beets which is a predominant crop in Northwest Wyoming. Students were fascinated by the complicated process of how it is made.
December 21, 2011 • Chandini Dahlberg
Filed under Academics, News, Top Stories
13 Greybull High School seniors experienced what it’s like to smell something so pungent it made their noses wrinkle. The smell was an oxymoron in itself, because it came from something very sweet: sugar beets.
On Tuesday December 13, students taking Advanced Chemistry from Mrs. Renae Waddell took a trip to Billings to visit the Western Sugar Cooperative Factory and ExxonMobil Refinery.
The purpose of the venture was to connect what the class had been learning to their lives and see how it related to actual jobs.
Of this experience, Mrs. Waddell said, “I hope that they recognize all of what they learned in class the last semester in a real world setting.”
At the first place they visited, the ExxonMobil Refinery, students watched a video about the purpose of the Refinery and what exactly happens there. They then took a tour of different buildings on the site and learned the function of each one.
It was an example of the realistic application of classroom concepts.
“They have been learning about organic compounds; including their names and reactions. The different components of crude oil are all products that we have studied or discussed in class,” said Mrs. Waddell.
Alex Powers (SR) said, “The tour was very interesting and it was great to see that all the compounds we’ve been naming actually have a purpose.”
The sugar factory was next and the class was in for a very unpleasant surprise. Upon entering the factory, students were overcome with the overwhelming smell of raw sugar. However, they were able to move past the stench and learned about the process of extracting sugar, an organic compound, from cells.
Mrs. Waddell said, “It’s interesting to see them apply what they’ve learned in asking questions of our tour guides. However, I don’t think any of them really liked the smell of the sugar factory.”
Although at the end of the day the students reeked of sugar beets, they also reeked of something else: knowledge.
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