Silvestre Reyes

“ During this year's 20th anniversary of National Chemistry Week, we are celebrating "The Many Faces of Chemistry." This theme was chosen to emphasize the extensive variety of careers available in the world of chemistry and to honor the tremendous diversity of people who have contributed and will contribute to the advancement of chemistry and all of its branches. This year's theme takes added importance when you consider that a disproportionately low number of minority, underprivileged, and young women students are taking up careers in science and technology. ”

“ If we are to remain an innovative and economically competitive nation, the face of our high-tech workforce must reflect the true face of America. Our workforce will not be the best America has to offer if we do not ensure that we are taking advantage of all pools of domestic talent. "The Many Faces of Chemistry" theme is especially significant because it focuses on promoting diversity, which will help ensure national competitiveness by encouraging broad participation from all sources of talent in the sciences and chemistry. ”

“ Every day thousands of children wake up fearing for their well being as they go to school; if the Student Non-Discrimination Act and the Safe Schools Improvement Act were enacted today, we could provide students a sense of relief and some reassurance that their government is working to improve their lives by increasing awareness about their daily struggles. ”

“ The inclusion of women and under-represented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, STEM, is not just important to correct for historical employment inequities, but to provide under-represented minorities an opportunity for prosperity. The increased education and participation of this segment of the workforce is also essential to supplying the American economy with the STEM expertise the country needs to innovate and remain competitive. ”

“ There is no place in our society for bullying or discrimination, whether it's in our schools, communities or in our military. I want to provide hope to our youth and remind them they are not alone and that there are many venues they can turn to for help. ”

“ In our country today the facts are clear:
56 percent of students have personally felt some sort of bullying at school. Between 4th and 8th grade in particular, 90 percent of students report being the victim of bullying.
9 out of 10 LGBT youth reported being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation.
1 in 4 teachers see nothing wrong with bullying and will only intervene 4 percent of the time.
A victim of bullying is twice as likely to take his or her own life compared to someone who is not a victim. ”

“ Some see tension between policies that focus resources on certain groups and the pursuit for excellence, but the simple truth is that the general achievement of excellence is strongly linked to the prevalence of opportunity. ”

“ Yet, in 2000, only 4.4 percent of the science and engineering jobs were held by African Americans and only 3.4 percent by Hispanics. Women constitute over half of the post- secondary students in the Nation, but represent a little more than one- quarter of our science and engineering workforce. ”

“ If America is to achieve its strategic objectives in STEM, the enormous potential of groups that are currently under-represented in the STEM fields must be realized through expanded and focused educational opportunity. ”

“ During the next 5 days, millions of people, particularly students in elementary and secondary schools, will be engaged in chemistry-related activities that show the importance of chemistry to our quality of life. ”

“ National Chemistry Week was created by ACS in 1987 to draw attention to the positive contributions chemistry makes to our everyday lives. These contributions include helping feed, house, and clothe the world's population; tapping new energy sources ”