Excellence in Galvanizing
Scottish Galvanizers has helped bring learning to life by taking time out to give a group of students a practical insight into a complex technical process.
The company, part of Wedge Group Galvanizing, opened the doors of its Glasgow plant to 40 chemistry students and four teachers from the Belmont Academy in Ayrshire, giving them the chance to find out more about the galvanizing process, where steel is dipped into molten zinc at temperatures of up to 450°C to provide a long-lasting protection against corrosion and rust.
The youngsters, who were chosen to take part in the visit as a reward for being the 40 best Standard Grade Chemistry performers amongst the school’s near 1,340 pupils, were treated to a comprehensive tour of the plant – including seeing steel actually being dipped into a galvanizing bath – as well as an in-depth question and answer session where they got to quiz Bob Duxbury, Wedge Group Galvanizing’s Technical Director, amongst others.
At the end of the two-and-a-half-hour tour, the students were also given a ‘goodie bag’ packed with memory sticks, pens, pencils and notepads to take away.
“We were delighted to invite the chemistry students to tour our facility,” said Paul Tait, Customer Service Manager of Scottish Galvanizers. “It’s a real hands-on way for them to learn a little bit more about the galvanizing process and what we do, and the youngsters took a keen interest and had lots and lots of excellent questions.”
Jeanette Brennan, Head of Chemistry for the Belmont Academy, commented: “It is great for the students to see first-hand practical examples of some of the theories they study in the classroom. The trip was highly informative and we’d like to thank Scottish Galvanizers again for allowing us to visit, and for their generosity in providing the students with their own souvenirs to take away. In fact, the youngsters have been using the safety goggles they were given on the tour in their recent chemistry lessons.”