Lily Poulos, life enrichment assistant at Carolina Bay at Autumn Hall, a Liberty Senior Living community in Wilmington, NC, noticed that most of the community’s programming was related to the arts. Having studied exercise science and public health at University of North Carolina Wilmington, she knew that other residents shared her passion for the sciences. So she decided to start hosting a bimonthly laboratory class for residents called “In the Lab with Lil.”
“I took a lot of chemistry and biology classes [in college], so I just really love doing things like that,” Poulos said. “Then I realized that we have a lot of residents who have chemistry backgrounds and worked in those fields. So I thought it would be something fun to do for them.”
According to Poulos, the class attendance averages around 12 to 20 residents, and many of them have professional or academic backgrounds in science and engineering. She believes that the program gives residents an opportunity to not only dive back into their studies but also to grow closer with other residents with similar interests.
“Getting more attendance, having people come out of their shell more and having more opportunities, it gives [residents] an advantage,” she said. “We do a lot of art classes, music and performances, but there wasn’t really anything that catered toward [science].”
Poulos said she often finds ideas for her experiments online; sciencebuddies.com is one of her go-to sites.
Her program may only run twice a month, but the memories created last forever. Just remember to put on your goggles, she advised.
“The first one we did was a winter theme; it was an exploding snowman. That one was really fun,” Poulos said. “The residents wore goggles, and they were all excited when it exploded. We’ve done inflating a balloon without air. We tested different amounts of vinegar and different amounts of baking soda and some of them got bigger. Everyone was laughing the whole time.”
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