SUPERPOWER: Encouraging others
Senior Chemist, Arclin
For Heather Henson, STEM education for kids is essential work. She vividly remembers being a kid herself and learning that Sally Ride was going to be the first American female in space. Then, unbelievably, her parents agreed to let her go to space camp in Alabama by herself at the age of 11. Henson laughs, looking back at it now. “My mom wouldn’t let me cross the bridge over the creek by myself, but she let me go, and I met kids from all around the United States and all around the world. It was incredible.”
A senior chemist at Arclin now, she credits her employer for the generosity to provide her materials and time to visit communities where she regularly donates her skills to teaching children about science using hands-on activities.
Henson is careful to use items in her experiments that can be easily found at home or purchased at local dollar stores. “We’ve found that kids learn so much more when they do hands-on projects, so it’s important for us to have items that are cheap, like baking soda or vegetable oil or vinegar or something that they probably have at home.”
Similarly, Henson started her YouTube channel so kids could do things on their own with her there to guide them and they wouldn’t have to worry about forgetting the order of operations or not understanding what completing a step should look like.
“I’m so blessed to be able to get into the communities and meet the kids,” Henson says. “They’re so kind and they ask intelligent questions, and I totally get my bucket filled from that. It’s my favorite.”
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