Why setting up a café is a good idea for chemistry students

Many universities have some form of in-course buddy-support system, often with eager second-year students supporting a handful of incoming freshers. From my experience, this support can either not provide the right help or dwindle, even after only the first few weeks. This is understandable, particularly from students on a busy course like chemistry, who have timetables filled with labs, lectures and tutorials.  

A few years ago, one of my fellow third-year chemistry friends decided that if she had had a collective of older-year students that she could have regularly turned to, she would have been better supported. Between us we realised that we had the opportunity to be those people and do just that. And so, Chemistry Café was born.  

Each Sunday afternoon during term time, my friends and I would meet in our favourite café for an hour, notes and laptops in hand, ready to support various students from the years below. Each session was different. Sometimes we focused on that week’s set of problems, other times dealing with how to write up a lab-report. Occasionally we didn’t talk about chemistry at all, and instead discussed next steps, or what modules to pick for next year, or where to look out for internships.  

Even though we were just a small group of third (and later fourth) year students, we had accumulated a vast amount of knowledge, just from having gone through the same problems a few years earlier. Chemistry Café allowed us to pass on the know-how and help students learn from our own mistakes.  

Chemistry café improved the unity we had between student year-groups

Sticking to a regular time with a core set of student helpers made sure that the café kept on running, week after week. Chemistry Café initially started via word of mouth but we soon migrated to a group chat to give updates in case location or time changed.  

The sessions proved useful for us older students too. Explaining concepts meant that we fully understood them ourselves, which was useful revision and sometimes made us see things in a new light. Chemical knowledge aside, Chemistry café improved the unity we had between student year-groups, all of us bonding over long-lab days, confusing concepts and the struggles of balancing the many aspects of a chemistry degree. Even though I have since left university, I’m pleased to hear that the café is still very much up and running – and growing in numbers!  

Inter-year communication is an often neglected and under-used resource within most universities. Students need support throughout a chemistry course, not just at the beginning. A chemistry-café run by students might be a way to foster group mentoring and solve that issue – piece of cake, anyone?