A clerical error changed Talman Charters Jr.'s career path -- and possibly the goals of many children.
Charters is president of Lab Ratz Science Club, a hands-on science program that visits schools, scout troops, birthday parties and summer camps to present scientific concepts in a way that encourages children to make their own discoveries. Founded in 2005, the program caught on quickly and already is booking up well into 2008.
"My aspiration was to go to medical school," said Charters, 26, of Hampton. "But there was a clerical error and my application was never reviewed. ... It wasn't until June when I found out. I had been calling around to different schools and they didn't even know who I was."
As an undergraduate, Charters had worked part time with an organization that ran science programs at area schools. Though that group went out of business, Charters believed the idea was a good one.
"I remember being a little guy and saying, 'Why does that happen?' and the teachers would tell me I'd learn about it later," Charters said. "But children have an amazing capacity for learning, and my goal is to let them discover scientific concepts and get them interested now, while they're young and creative."
In late summer 2005, after coming to grips with the fact that it was too late to reapply to medical schools, Charters decided to launch Lab Ratz. His childhood friend, Shawn Miller, bought into the business -- called Tal-Million Laboratories -- and became vice president at the beginning of 2006.
The two went from school to school pitching their idea to principals.
"From there, we just really started going to schools and telling them our ideas," Charters said. "The hardest thing was convincing them that we're not salespeople."
By spring, they had established the program at five schools in the North Hills. They've since done programs in the South Hills, as well as in Butler, Beaver and Armstrong counties.
Though they do one-time presentations for school assemblies or birthday parties, the main program is an after-school science club that takes place for an hour-and-a-half one day a week for five weeks. It is an extracurricular activity that doesn't cost the schools anything. Students enroll for $65, and students who are eligible for the federal lunch program can attend for free.
The target audience is kindergarten through fifth grade, though the men are branching into middle school.
Classes usually start with a discussion about the concept to be studied -- perhaps the difference between acids and bases, or what makes something alive. Students discover the answers by doing hands-on experiments. A biology lab could involve observing tree frogs or looking at blood through a microscope. Chemistry can include creating -- and then igniting -- hydrogen or oxygen.
"Classes are really driven by the students, how far they want to take a lesson," said Miller, 24, of Shaler, who graduated from Duquesne University with a degree in teaching.
Undergraduate students at local colleges are invited to work part-time as instructors. Kristen Rizzo, 20, a sociology student at Carlow University, recently observed the club in action, and participated in a training session for new instructors.
"I hated science when I was a kid," she said. "But these guys make it really exciting. The two little boys I sat with at the club really enjoyed it. They got really into it."
Charters and Miller are looking for a permanent home for the business -- right now it is housed in Miller's basement -- where they could host birthday parties or classes. They're considering the possibility of franchising.
"We'd definitely like to take it national," Charters said. "But that's not in the near future. We'll have to conquer Pittsburgh first."
Joanne Greer, a first-grade teacher at Wyland Elementary in Hampton, brought Charters and Miller in for a biology demonstration. Lab Ratz Science Club is now a regular installment at the school, with the club resuming at the end of this month.
"They really, really held the students' interest," Greer said. "It was amazing how they were able to connect with the kids, and have them understand what's going on."
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