Excellence in Galvanizing
Scottish Galvanizers has helped bring learning to life by giving a group of students a practical insight into a complex technical process.
They opened the doors of its Maclellan Street plant to 39 chemistry students and four teachers from the Belmont Academy in Ayrshire, giving them the chance to find out more about the process of galvanizing, where steel is dipped into molten zinc at temperatures of up to 450°C to provide a long-lasting protective coating against rust and corrosion.
The youngsters, who were chosen to take part in the visit as a reward for being the best Standard Grade Chemistry performers amongst the school’s more than 1,300 pupils, were treated to a full 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 Paul Cameron, Scottish Galvanizers’ General Manager, 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 once again, this being the third year now where we’ve had the pleasure of hosting our visitors from Belmont Academy,” said Paul Tait, Commercial Manager of Scottish Galvanizers. “It’s a real hands-on way for the youngsters to learn a little bit more about the galvanizing process and what we do, and they took a real interest in our operations, and had lots of excellent questions.”
Jeanette Brennan, Principal Teacher of Chemistry at the Belmont Academy, commented: “The trip was hugely 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. The pupils really enjoyed the tour and it was a great opportunity for them to see first-hand practical examples of some of the theories they study in the classroom.”