Lul Sharif
By Munira Alimire
Arts and Entertainment Editor
Munira.Alimire1651@mb.rctc.edu
Lul Sharif, a full-time PSEO student and high school senior, is one of four students partaking in Dr. Heather Sklenica’s chemistry research class.
She signed up for the class after taking another class under Dr. Sklenica and enjoys it “because of the freedom I have to study what I love: chemistry.”
Sharif is beginning to formulate a project she could work on this year, but so far, she’s worked on a demo at Gibbs Elementary School for students who participated in the summer reading program.
“The demo’s theme was color, so I did this really simple experiment where I poured milk in a bowl, placed a few drops of dye and then placed a cotton swab that had been dipped in soap in the center. The colors will then spread outwards quickly, creating rings of color, and if you felt like it, you could paint Starry Night on it,” she said.
Sharif’s classmates did other demos, some which shouldn’t be repeated at home.
“One did an iodine color change that mixed sulfuric acid, iodine and starch, and the solution turned from clear to blue-black quite suddenly!” Sharif said.
Sharif is earning her liberal arts degree and hopes to be accepted to Yale.