It's National Chemistry Week and the Northeast Tennessee Section of the American Chemical Society (NETSACS) is hosting 4th graders from around the region to celebrate.

The event is being held Tuesday, October 23 and Wednesday, October 24.

As kids meander through stations set up at the Toy F. Reid employee center at Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, they get to see science in action.  This event is aimed at encouraging students to get interested in careers in science. 

"We want to help them learn what they need to learn to find a career they'll love, where they can contribute back to society in an area they have passion for," said Shawn Dougherty, national chemistry coordinator for NETSACS and an Eastman chemist.

"I like to solve multiplication and division in math, and I like to try to figure out how stuff happens in science," said Braden Marshall, a fourth grade student at Andrew Johnson elementary.

"Sometimes I think they see their parents go to work, and maybe not have as much fun as they would like it to be, so it's one way to expose them to jobs that are engaging and give them the opportunity to make things," said Andrew Johnson Elementary School teacher Tonja Francis.

About 1,500 students from southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee were expected to attend over the two-day period.