Science Night at Evergreen is a Blast for Kids, Adults

An estimated 600 people showed up at ’s “Science Night” on Friday, and it was a sad story for many parents and kids. 

“This is the last year I’m doing it,” said Ken Zschach, who has organized the event for the last five years on his own, for the school. “My son and I work on experiments year-round, so once a year we put this on to share them with the school.”

But Aldena Garrett, head of Evergreen's PTA, said her husband Paul will take over after this year, so it's not dying, she said.

The idea: Zschach lays out 15 tables with an experiment per table; then he gets Sonoma State students, usually between 40 and 60 people from sororities, to learn the experiments, and then teach them to the kids. He also sets up a makeshift planetarium to teach kids about constellations, and organizes a mock observatory taught by the Sonoma County Astronomical Society, where astronomers point out stars to kids in the night sky.

Kids are then given a "passport" that they get "stamped" with star stickers after each experiment is completed.

“I do it because I love it,” Zschach said.

Kids from kindergarten through eighth grade showed up this year to bend their minds around science basics such as the laws of physics, chemical reactions and kinetic energy — to name a few.

In one experiment, vinegar was combined with baking soda in an empty water bottle, which creates carbon monoxide; gasses are released from their solid/liquid state and when a balloon is stretched over the mouth of the bottle, it expands.

“It teaches kids about gasses,” said Samantha Smith, a freshman Psychology major at , who is in Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. “I’m having a lot of fun, and I hope my excitement translates for the kids. I’m seeing a lot of smiles out here, so I think it’s working.”

“I think Science Night is awesome,” said Shrena Desai, 8, a third-grader at Evergreen. “I really love science, and I love doing cool experiments with gravity, light and space.”

In another experiment, water and dry ice are combined in a spherical tube, which creates a sort of foggy light air. But when dish soap is poured into the tube, a bubbly vapor erupts from the opening.

“This one is so cool,” said Natalie Cole, 9, who lives in Rohnert Park and is home-schooled. “The bubbles have gas in them!”

Heather Coyne, 19, is a nursing student at Sonoma State and a member of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority. She volunteered at Science Night because learning about sciences instills a sense of curiosity in the students, she said.

“I jumped at the opportunity to help when I heard about it,” she said.

A third experiment taught kids about surface tension by pushing a balloon down on a bed of nails.   

Throughout the two-hour Science Night, one table that displayed assorted mammal skulls, a boa constrictor’s skin, a live leopard gecko and even a cave cockroach found mostly in South America, was jam-packed all night three deep with kids.

The night sky exhibits were equally popular.

All eight telescopes that spanned Evergreen’s back parking lot swarmed with kids and parents throughout the night. Some stargazers focused on the moon, some on Jupiter and four of its moons, and some on the Orion Nebula.

The planetarium shows filled up as well.

“This night is so amazing,” said Maria Hennessey, the mother of a seven-year-old Evergreen student.

“We love doing outreach with the schools,” said Tom Duggan, an astronomer with the Astronomical Society.

“Who wants to see Jupiter, it’s what I’m going to next,” Duggan announced to a small gang of kids crowding below him. “That’s the one up there that looks lie a bright star, but it’s not, it’s a planet.” 

Click through the photos to the right for a slideshow of of the night.