At CVHS, K.A.S.T. (Kids Are Scientists Too) is an organization where high school students volunteer to teach elementary schoolers about science and do fun experiments with them throughout the school year. Several parents recognize their child’s love for the club, including one parent who said “After each club my daughter came home very excited, she loved it!” 

The club consists of two co-founders who are both juniors at Centreville High School, as well as several board members who are juniors and seniors, and many students from all grade levels. 

Monthly experiments are held on the fourth Monday of each month right after school from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at Union Mill Elementary School. Last school year was when K.A.S.T. was instituted at CVHS, but even though it hasn’t been around for long, the impact it has had on our community is not to be overlooked. Shreya Selvamani, one of the co-founders of K.A.S.T. and a junior at Centreville, explains why it is a great club to be a part of by saying “K.A.S.T. provides great leadership experience for high school students by building a community and creating special bonds with little kids.” It is also a great opportunity to get service hours and teaching experience, which is very important to one’s education.

As far as the process of keeping the club active goes, the founders and board members create lesson plans for each meeting and choose a science topic to teach and explain how it relates to the experiment. Experiments in the past have been making elephant toothpaste, making ice cream and many more fun creations. Some science topics that have been highlighted include states of matter, reactions and more. 

K.A.S.T. is not just a school level club here at Centreville, it is a national club with many institutions at several high schools. It was founded by students at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland, and further became a non-profit organization in 2012.