Can we be honest?
Chemistry is a lot to learn but a lot of fun if done in the right way.
What if we all could learn more by watching a scientist who became a TikToker by chance?
Back in the days when I was still attending high school, the days spent at the laboratory were mainly made of laughs and surprises.
In 2021 things have evolved, and kids are more likely to search for answers on Google, Youtube, and Tiktok rather than on a physical encyclopedia, just like we used to do.
Social media are not new to science videos, experiments, and people love to see the results.
Kim Hilton became Chemical Kim.
Among the most followed influencers, Kim Hilton, known as Chemical Kim from Naples, Florida.
Kim is also a proud member of the gay community.
She is married, and together with her beautiful wife and their four children, they live in Naples, where they enjoy life outside the chemistry laboratory.
Indeed the whole family is very fond of watersports, Harry Potter cosplay, bike riding, and photography.
On her channel, many videos feature Kim and her wife fishing in Florida in the Florida Keys.
But also of their trip to Indonesia, where she explained the pollution issue with concrete examples.
Setting an example for her students.
The woman holds a Bachelor of Science and a Secondary Education Certification from Michigan Technological University.
She was a featured alumnus in the Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences in 2018.
Kim holds a Master in Chemistry from Central Michigan University.
In this University, she was the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award.
With these premises, she is now a motivational science education speaker advocating for science.
I will make a quick disclaimer before continuing with the reading of this article.
The experiments you will see in the videos featured are performed by scientists and students dedicated to chemistry.
Her main goal has always been to motivate people to investigate their world through experimentation.
Chemical Kim has become famous for being able to answer people's questions about science.
She does it in a very entertaining way and for being a visible LGBTQ STEM educator.
Chemical Kim has received a lot of attention for her TikTok channel.
The success of her videos depends on the number of likes and views it gets.
She has an incredible number of almost 615 thousand science fans.
And, with almost 5 million likes on the platform, Kim is definitely among the most followed influencers in her niche.
Chemical Kim came up with her idea to make science fun in the classroom while teaching her students her passion for chemistry.
Not only chemistry.
Her videos not only cover chemistry but physics, biology, and more: they are just plain educational fun.
Chemical Kim does not limit herself to chemical questions: she also answers questions concerning biology, pollution, mechanic, and even food science.
The videos are funny because of her informality and dynamic character that can keep viewers interested through her personality.
A full-time Professor.
She is a full-time Chemistry Professor at Florida Southwestern State College in Fort Myers.
There she approaches science just like she does on her social media.
Indeed is not that uncommon that a few of her students appear in her videos.
Kim has appeared several times on tv, always for television science segments on ABC affiliate stations.
Among those channels, WZZM 13 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and ABC 7 in Fort Myers, Florida.
Every segment featured teaching a show host how to do science activities.
These science segments provided kids with fun activities and the confidence to investigate the science at home or in school.
I faced my fear of being in front of a group of people. And found a passion that has since made me working every day a joy. My advice to current teachers is to do what you love. If you do not find love in your subject or in teaching it, do not force it. The teaching world is filled with too many people who complain about teaching, students, and the hard work for so little pay. Yes, the monthly income is not that much and, yes, the job is hard… but if you love it, you will not regret a day of your career choice. You will make a difference to the world because you give the good part of yourself, the happy part.
She declared to Michigan Tech in an interview.
And we could not agree more.
Chemical Kim has found a ground-breaking way to open science and chemistry to the public.