At its June 3, 2025, annual shareholder meeting, the Butler Giving Circle (BGC) selected the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department as the 2025 recipient of its community grant. The $11,602 grant from shareholder funds will build on a partnership established during the 2024-2025 academic year between the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department and Indianapolis area high schools. Through an Indianapolis Community Requirement (ICR) course, Butler students host and lead high school students in conducting chemistry lab experiments that cannot be performed at the high schools, either due to a lack of resources or safety concerns. BGC grant funding will help to cover the costs of lunch and transportation for high school students to come to campus, which department leaders hope will make the opportunity accessible to more area high schools.
“With the help of this grant funding, we are excited to be able to build on the success we experienced last year with this course,” Anne Wilson, Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry, said. “Teachers were really appreciative of the advanced equipment we have and our ability to ensure a safe environment for these experiences, along with the idea of the college students working alongside the high school students as impromptu mentors for them and creating those connections. When we asked why we couldn’t get some schools here, we learned that paying for buses and lunches were a big thing.”
While the Chemistry ICR course is not new, in previous iterations of the course Butler students went out into the Indianapolis community to conduct chemistry demonstrations in other locations. Now, thanks to the recent renovation and expansion of Butler’s Sciences Complex, the department has the needed space to welcome local students to campus to experience a college chemistry lab first-hand. Around 100 students from seven area high schools came to campus to participate in the experience last year.
“Not only is this an exciting opportunity for high school students to imagine themselves in college and to experience what that might be like as they work alongside Butler students, it’s also a great opportunity for our Butler students to connect the idea of community service directly to their academic area of study,” Wilson said. “Serving at a food pantry is wonderful, but there is a lightbulb moment that happens for our students when they can begin to imagine how their area of study might be applied in a way that enriches the community.”
After Wilson makes initial contact with the participating schools, Butler students are tasked with communicating with the teachers, selecting an experiment for the students, ensuring that the experiment meets the teacher’s objectives, and preparing any materials needed for the experiment.
“What really stood out to me about the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry’s presentation was the opportunity it creates for local students, especially those who might not otherwise have access to set foot on Butler’s campus,” Sarah Smith, Associate Director of Alumni Community Engagement and a first-year Giving Circle shareholder, said. “That aligns so strongly with the Giving Circle’s goal to make a real impact on the Indianapolis community. Hearing from Mrs. Houck, an AP Chemistry teacher from Speedway High School, brought it all home for me. She spoke candidly about the transportation barriers they face and how this program allows students to turn what would otherwise be textbook theory into real, hands-on lab experience.”
Wilson says the BGC grant funding will provide enough support to subsidize transportation and lunch as needed for the next three academic years, allowing more high schools the opportunity to access the experience.
The Butler Giving Circle was established in 2019 and is designed to connect alumni to their philanthropic areas of passion, focused on two mission-critical elements of the University’s vision for the future: community partnerships and student access and success.
With an annual gift of $500, any Butler alumni, parent, or friend can become a shareholder in the Butler Giving Circle. After shareholder funds are pooled, 40 percent of the funds are directed to the Butler Fund for Student Scholarship, 40 percent are granted to an Indianapolis community partner(s) with an existing affiliation to Butler, and 20 percent are directed to the Fund to Support Student Mental Health, the Giving Circle’s current priority partner. New shareholders can join the Butler Giving Circle at any time by making a qualifying gift here.
Philanthropic gifts fuel our mission. The Office of University Advancement exists to match the Butler community’s philanthropic interests with University needs in support of our strategic direction. Make a gift today or learn more about Butler’s current giving priorities.