Oak Park and River Forest High School’s Physics Club has room for any and all people who have some time to spend after school on Thursdays–and who are  interested in projectiles, dry ice and great snacks.  

At a recent meeting, small groups of people milled around, the more seasoned members urging them to sign in on the clipboard near the front door. Nothing about the group felt clique-y; everyone spoke to everyone. Led by co-presidents Julian Martinez and Jonathan Schiff, and sponsored by physics teacher Benjamin Cain, the club is devoted to exploring physics topics not covered in class.

The meeting began with a brief current events lecture about the recent first renewable nuclear fusion reaction. Cain excitedly drew on the board while he explained how it worked, periodically turning to his audience of club-goers with a “does that make sense?” and receiving a few “totallys” and “uh-huhs” in response. Cain concluded his bite-sized lesson by saying he never had the opportunity to teach about that specific reaction in class.

After a snack break, wherein the co-presidents presented and offered  a big cardboard box of impressively not cheap and very varied options, Cain followed up on his promise to create a cloud chamber with dry ice to demonstrate how radioactive decay can be perceived. Turning all the lights off and shining their phone flashlights close, everyone crowded around the table and watched tiny strings of what looked like steam emit from the contraption. 

During a brief lull in the meeting, a group of freshmen sat together eating their complimentary snacks. 

When asked what made them attend, a clear pattern was apparent. Freshman Natalie Schiff was there because Jonathan, her brother, is the club president. Freshman Lucy Liskiewitz said she came alone since Natalie  Schiff suggested it, but also that “it seemed cool..plus they said they’d have snacks!” 

From across the table, Freshman Lucy Hahs laughed, saying, “I found out about the club less than an hour ago while I was walking up the stairs with Natalie. It’s been really fun so far.” 

Liskiewitz also heard about the club from her friends but had deeper reasons for attending. “I want to go into the computer science field, and I know physics is a big part of that. I really wanted to see if I’d like it before I went into the field,” she said.

Some seniors at the meeting, like co-president Julian Martinez and member Benny Bellmar, had been a part of the club since day one. The club began in May 2022, its impetus coming from a group of  friends with the same teacher. Bellmar, not a co-president but a founder nonetheless, said, “a group of us had Mr. Cain for physics; we liked him as a teacher and we liked physics as a topic, especially all the experiments we were all doing in class, and we wanted to do more outside of school. The club started out pretty small, but we’ve been getting the word out!” 

Both seniors were very clear in stating that the club is focused on “physics minus the math,” as Bellmar put it.

During the cloud chamber experiment, the general character of the club shone through. Cain was pressed with intellectual inquiries like, “Can I touch the dry ice?” and, “Can I eat the dry ice?” “Why not?” “What if I just ate a little?” Cain, however, stood his ground, keeping his experiment purely visual. 

The club does a variety of other experiments, including figuring out how to launch projectiles. Not every effort is successful, but, as Martinez pointed out, life is about the journey, not the ending. 

When asked if he would call Physics Club itself a journey, he said he would not, because that would be a cliche. Instead, Bellmar and Martinez described the club as a place to explore physics (with less math), have fun and build things. 

“Sometimes we have snacks, but we always have fun,” said Bellmar.