Mole Day, Fun Day

At Leonia High School, mole day is a very important day, especially for the science enthusiasts. Mole Day signifies one of the more important discoveries in science history. It relates to Avogadro’s number, 6.022 × 10∧23, and is celebrated on October 23rd (10/23) each year. The Leonia Academy of Science pushes students to celebrate this discovery in order to foster interest in chemistry.

Because the Science Academy students hold the event annually, I spoke to freshmen hosting the event for the first time to get a new perspective. Demetrios Spaccavento and Manal Hajjam, two of the newest science academy students, started off by telling me how excited they were for the twenty-third. “Yeah, we all are looking forward to Mole Day,” Manal began, “especially to spread the joy of science.” Asking them what they were most looking forward to, they replied, “Missing class.” We giggled through the answer, but we all knew it was true.

In addition to spreading the fun through decorations, shirts, and stuffed moles, science academy students design and order their own t-shirts to wear on mole day.

“Is there a theme for your mole day shirt?” I asked. Last year’s shirt was orange and said: “Keep calm and celebrate mole day.” Demetrios and Manal were very excited about their shirts. They wouldn’t tell me the color, but their theme is Star Wars, and their shirt will say: “May the moles be with you.” They definitely one-upped last year’s shirt.

Sophomores Nidhi Patel and Michelle Byun, who were in the science academy for the last two years, were kind enough to answer a few questions too.

“Did you enjoy mole day last year? What were some things you liked most?” I asked curiously. Michelle started off by saying, “Well, I mean, we got to skip class, but all joking aside, we were given the privilege to spread the joy of science with the school.” Nidhi added that the balloons and tattoos were also very creative. Their t-shirts also got a lot of questions and spiked plenty of curiosity!

My next question was, “What would you have done differently?” They had a lot of comments. “I would make sure the cafeteria was organized better because by the time we got everything set up, there were five minutes to homeroom and we had to take everything down.” Michelle added, “Also, not a lot of people knew what mole day was, so I would have a few announcements before the event, talking about the importance, and each day give a different fact.” Said one student. Another added added that they would make more decorations and posters to hang around the school so students can see and read them during lunch or before homeroom.

My last question for the students was, “Are you planning to help strike up the spirit this year by wearing your shirt from last year?” They all shook their heads because the fabric of the slogan didn’t stick well to the shirt itself, but otherwise they would have worn them.

Celebrating mole day each year is a great way to spread the importance of 6.022 × 10∧23 and get more students to enjoy science. Have a mole-riffic day!