Students Celebrate Mole Day

Chemistry students at SUA recently celebrated Mole Day on October 23 from 6:02 am to 6:02 pm.

A mole, or 602,214,076,000,000,000,000,000, is a unit of measure that chemists use to weigh certain molecules that are too small to measure directly. It is celebrated on October 23 to represent the unit in scientific notation, 10 to the 23rd power.

Mr. Hojnicki, a beloved chemistry teacher at Saint Ursula Academy, celebrates with his students by making a banner by painting liquid nitrogen letters on paper circles and burning it to watch the letter appear in the paper.

He starts the day by decorating his classroom, as well as the whole school, with signs celebrating Mole Day. He made chemistry themed desserts for his students to enjoy.

On mole day, students perform fun chemistry experiments, celebrate the life of Otis the chemistry cat, and learn more about moles. In a recent interview with Mr. Hojnikin expressed that he loves Mole Day because “Otis’ favorite holiday was Mole Day!” When asked what his favorite part of Mole Day was, he responded “the Mole calculations.”

To Mr. Hojniki, Mole Day expresses the love of chemistry he and his students share, and it “means that Chemistry is important enough to be celebrated and have a day to like everything else that we celebrate” Mole Day a tradition that every St. Ursula student past and present cherishes!