Science National Honors Society visits Maryland Science Center on interactive field trip

Sarah Elbeshbishi

A model of Mars hanging in the science center.

On April 21, the Watkins Mill Science National Honors Society visited the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, Maryland to further explore their interests in science.

“I wanted to treat my hard-working Science National Honor Society students…to something fun and different from their every day educational program. I wanted to do something science-based with them all year, so this was a fun way to apply our scientific knowledge to cool science experiments, exhibits, demos, and models,” said sponsor and teacher Matthew Johnson.

The field trip was a great chance for students to get out of the classroom and experience what they normally put on paper, in-person.“It’s easier when you see science applied to fun things than just seeing them on the board,” said junior Shareyne Repaje.

Sarah Elbeshbishi
Crab at the science center.

Science resource teacher Matt Reese “was very impressed with the activities available at the science center. I teach IB Physics and there were multiple hands on activities that were directly related to our curriculum,” Reese said.
“Since the whole center was about science, everywhere we went we learned something new about science,” junior Fiona Franke said. This led to some unique experiences and new findings. As well as discovering science the students were able to explore the Inner Harbor during their one hour of free time.

In the future Johnson would like “to do the same trip again next year and I want to plan even more hiking and exploration trips next year with this awesome group of students.”

“This was also a reward for all their tutoring hours they put in this year. [They] are some of the top kids in our building and they work so hard every day in IB and AP classes,” Johnson added. “Sometimes everybody needs a break or to hit the reset button and do something different.”

Matt Johnson
The Science National Honor Society posing for a group picture.

Anyone interested in joining the Science National Honor Society can pick up application packets in C202. Students must have a 3.2 GPA in their science courses and be enrolled in an advanced science course in the upcoming school year.