Townsend Harris High School students have come to take the well-prepared lab setups and clean equipment for granted. But many don’t realize the pivotal role that lab specialist Mark McHugh plays behind the curtains. Mr. McHugh manages all the science labs at THHS, ensuring that each one is set up accurately, safely, and on time.
Mr. McHugh’s punctuality and professionalism in setting up the labs allow students to get their work done without worrying about whether they have the right equipment. Reflecting on the lab setups, freshman Christine Chen said,“[When I enter class], I see the tables displayed and all the supplies on the table first. The materials and supplies are pretty clean.”
“I’ve always been a science guy,” Mr. McHugh said when asked why he took the position as lab administrator. “I’ve always been kind of a person that likes to keep things organized and neat—putting things away [and] organizing the cabinets.”
At the beginning of Mr. McHugh’s career, he initially worked as an assistant to a Living Environment teacher, who taught Chemistry Labs. Mr. McHugh mentioned that there was initially a “period of adjustment when I got to know everybody”, but that learning to work with other faculty members was one of the chief ways he had grown during his experience. Recalling his days as a lab assistant, he shared an anecdote: “[The Living Environment teacher] kind of took her frustration out on me… And I spent my lunch period with her, going over the [Chemistry] lab and making sure she could do it.” He added that despite their rough start, “by the end of the year, we became friends.” This early experience helped him develop the skills and resilience that now define his work at THHS.
Mr. McHugh explained that he prepares the laboratory before each class by following a list of materials needed for a particular lab experiment. The list is written on paper and has been used by teachers over the span of many years.
Furthermore, he said the layout of the scientific instruments is in a certain, recognizable way, making it easier to find when constructing the lab for upcoming experiments.“I try to keep the lab organized. …I have the glass squares in one location [and] all the chemicals in the storage area,” he said.
“If we get something new, we try to incorporate a new piece of equipment. Then [if we] find something’s not working, we try to change it…recently, we’ve been trying to improve the labs, making them more inquiry-based,” he said.
Another student, Sophomore Alexander Maddox said that although the shelves for school bags could use some improvement, “the equipment itself is pretty well cleaned” and “very interesting to use.”
Freshman Morgan Whittingham said, “I like the way the lab is organized. You can find things very easily, like if you’re trying to look for microscopes, it’s in one [specific] cabinet instead of all over the place.”
Other teachers of the Science Department praised his work. Fellow Chemistry teacher Adel Kadamani said, “He’s a hard worker and he gets the equipment– the right equipment that we need for the labs, the right chemicals, and he keeps the stations nice and neat.” He added, “He comes in early. He’s here before 6:30 A.M.” Mr. Kadamani said that Mr. McHugh creates a comfortable teaching environment for science teachers, as he is “open to any suggestions” and is “very positive”.
Chemistry teacher Tanya Karcic also said “[Mr. McHugh] is very thorough with the safety protocols…I admire that because it’s important— for whatever we do in the chemistry lab— to make sure that all the students at Townsend Harris are safe.”
When asked about some of his favorite labs he has set up over the years, Mr. McHugh said, “At the end of the year we do a polymer lab, where we make slime and silly putty…We also have some labs where we are doing chemical reactions in test tubes with different substances. That’s always fun.”
Mr. McHugh said he believes that science labs are crucial to a student’s learning experience. “I think [the labs are] more entertaining because students will have to actually do some experimenting to find out what it is they’re supposed to be doing.” He added his own experience saying, “When I tried doing the labs, it helped me understand the concepts a lot better.” He said that labs allow students to utilize their problem-solving skills and stay engaged in the subject matter, thus improving their understanding more effectively.
“Instead of having the teachers tell them, they see [for themselves],” he said, “they have to kind of look at what they’ve got and figure out how the experiment should work.”
