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April 10, 2006 . Tell Oprah about us! Send E-mail to: cleophas9@sbcglobal.net
A Most Interesting Day of Learning at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Chemistry Laboratory and at the Los Angeles Science Center! Tyneesha (left) has been with the Tutoring Service for a month. She is failing, but not for long!
Skip to the future! April 20, 2007....Tyneesha has no failing grades, and an "A" or two, to boot! Congrats, Tyneesha! of Curtiss Middle School in Carson.
Skip to the Future....April 14, 2007...Tyneesha at the LA Science Center (again) on Video! Another Video
Top: About to enter the Los Angeles Science Center: Bottom; Mr. McAlpin and Tyneesha...Vivian and Shalay about to see the IMAX show, The Deep Sea
The day started out at 10:00 AM. That is when Vivian (15), Omatseyin (13) and Daniel (12) arrived. Shalay (14) came soon afterwards with Janiece, the 2-year old "Ne-Ne", as everyone so affectionately calls her.
We went to Compton and picked up the 12 year old Tyneesha (Her Mother, LaSonya is a Security Guard there). It was then on to the Department of Water and Power to visit the Credit Union to obtain funds and to meet with Tyneesha's mother, an employee of the Department. On the way, I tutored the students, as usual. I had brought an exam on the Atomic Theory of Matter, and I had Omatseyin to pull it out from my brief case. All of the students answered the questions, but Omatseyin seems to have ingested all that I have taught him about the "structure of matter". He spat out the answers before the others had a chance!
All of the students entered the DWP building with me; they meet many employees; went to the cafeteria and had a bite to eat. I paid for Vivian and Shalay. Vivian, because it was "her day" for academic achievement. She had received 4 "A" grades on her report card last Friday; Shalay had achieved 2 "B" grades. Shalay had a couple of bad grades, too, and she would not have been allowed on this Field Trip had it not been one of education. Omatseyin and Daniel had also reported in with a good report card. Anyway, the students were out of school for Easter vacation, and I thought it would be a good thing to take Vivian out as a show of appreciation for a job well done!
While Tyneesha's mother took her around to meet employees, the students ate in the cafeteria. They ate burritos, ice cream, soup and a whole lot of other "goodies". We left the Department of downtown and went to the Department facility where I had worked for more than 28 years. It was the "Testing Laboratories" that we visited. I showed the students my old desk, cubicle and work related instruments, such as the "electronic watt-hour meter Standards that were used in the testing of electrical meters.
It was on to the 3rd floor, where the Chemistry Laboratory of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power resides. I introduced myself to the Supervisor there and asked him for a short tour of the Lab. Sheila, an old friend, still worked at the Lab, and she, along with the Chemist in charge, gave the students a wonderful tour of the lab. The students heard of Argon, Oxygen, Nitrogen and others of the elements on the Periodic Table of the Elements. The students had worked on an examination on the Atomic Structure of Matter when they first arrived at 10:00AM, and this was right down their alley!
"Argon" is in that tank, explained the Chemist Supervisor.
"That is one of the Noble Gases" Omatseyin shouted. The Supervisor seemed a little shocked!
"Mercury is the only element that is a liquid at room temperature", Daniel reminded all when the Supervisor pointed to a tube of it.
"I know about Nitrogen", Daniel interrupted.
There were no less than 3 "Periodic Table of the Elements" Charts about the 3- room Laboratory.
One of the students exclaimed, "There are about 103 elements on that chart".
Sheila explained the sophisticated equipment she was working with. Oil was taken from transformers and placed into what seemed to be a hypodermic needle, although about 10 times larger. Then the oil was inserted into a device that separated the gases from the oil. The various gases were sent to separate chambers where it was analyzed and that led to a screen display where the height of a pulse defined the type and amount of gas in the oil. The students watched Sheila and listened to her intently. They asked questions. They learned an awful lot!
It was then on to the Los Angeles Science Center, where the students were on their own to investigate all of the wonders of science in that educational place! Ne-Ne went with me, and she too, pushed buttons and jumped with joy when a scientific principle was revealed! For example, she really enjoyed pressing the "make an earthquake happen" button, where she stood up plastic tubes to be shook until they fell! Ne-Ne was baptized in scientific principles!
The students gathered at the entrance to the IMAX theater. They were given 3-D glasses, and took pictures and ate popcorn in the lobby. Ne-Ne held onto the Animal book I have purchased for her with dear life. Cost $10; Price of tickets, $30. I treated all to the show!
The Deep Sea adventure was great! The students sat back to enjoy the wonders of the deep ocean, and all of God's creatures that resided there. It was a Predator VS. Prey type of show, where one is subjected to eat or be eaten at a second's notice! Ne-Ne, of course, was scared...and she let me know of it by leaping into my arms, pulling off the glasses....and soon falling asleep!
We then came home to recuperate. That gave me time to have the students continue work on our Atomic Theory examination. Shalay and I did approximately 30 Algebra One problems. Vivian worked on the computer, while Daniel and Omatseyin toiled with the exam. The overhead projector grew hot, and so did the pencils and paper of the two students, with me telling them to look at the lessons in our Electronics Book for the answers and not to me! Ne-Ne asked to have the dry erase board erased; before I did, I gave Daniel the Boolean Algebra lecture of the day before, and had him to convert 31 to binary numbers. He also wrote his name in binary! Then Ne-Ne did her thing with the dry erase markers. She almost drew a head with the eyes in it! She soon gave up and placed the Animal Book I had purchased for her on the floor and gawked at the animals s found in it! Another star student on the rise to the top!
We visited Mod'l Mania Hobby shop at 3908 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach. Telephone (562) 290-0525. Chuck, the owner, is one of the Volunteer Tutors to this Organization, having made donations of model cars, etc, in the past. I had the students meet Chuck, who told them to get their education. He also told me that he would be getting in more of the electric motor construction kits by this Friday. We need two or three of them. Our students will be constructing the motor, just as the students of the past. It was then on the Coldstone Ice Cream store on Atlantic to buy ice cream. None of the students had heard of "Coldstone Ice Cream, but they are sure to return; they ate ice cream and had a good time of it while we drove to the movies in Lakewood.
We went to Lakewood to the movies. More pop corn and more laughter. Some saw a scary movie, while others saw another. I was too tired to know the difference.
I took all of the students home and arrived back to mine about 10:45 PM, to fall asleep on the couch! I had been a wonderful day of tutoring and learning! Thank you, God!