When Halloween comes around, South students can always count on Chemistry teacher Sergey Zinovchik to blow up pumpkins. But how much do you really know about him?

Zinovchik was not born in the United States; he is originally from Belarus.

“I haven’t visited much since I was young when I moved and don’t really have much connection besides my dad’s side of the family. I have an uncle that goes back and forth yearly and I talk to him about the current state of affairs of Belarus,” said Zinovchik. 

He moved to the United States around 31 years ago, when he was just a child. 

“I moved to the United States in 1991 and the reason I moved was because my parents moved and so being 9 years old I tagged along, thinking that it would be hard to live on my own. My parents knew a family from my home country that lived in St. Louis and so they chose to move where their friends were living,” said Zinovchik.

Here at South he currently teaches AP Chemistry and Matter and Change. 

“There is a very big gap between Matter & Change and AP Chemistry. Matter & Change serves to introduce chemistry at the high school level whereas AP Chemistry is a full-blown college chemistry class. Chemistry or Honors Chemistry stands between them and I try to increase the rigor in this middle class to get more students interested in and prepared for AP Chemistry. I enjoy teaching all levels and put effort into all classes equally since many students will be inspired in Matter & Change for AP Chemistry,” he said.

Chemistry teacher Lauren Patrick works very closely with Zinovchik, as they are the two Matter & Change teachers this year. She only has amazing things to say about Zinovchik. 

“Mr. Z makes learning chemistry fun for kids; he showcases a lot of amazing chemistry demos. In addition, since I am new to South, Mr. Z has been very helpful in me adapting to a new school district,” said Patrick.  

Something most people might not know about Zinovchik is that he went to South High himself.

“I graduated from South in 2000,” said Zinovchik.

From his time here to now there has been great change but also many similarities for Zinovchik.

“There has been a major overhaul of the science wing since I went here so I didn’t really recognize the science classrooms when I came back but the rest of the layout looks roughly the same. In addition, there are teachers that are still here when I was a student but none that I had especially since I only went here my junior and senior year as that is when we moved to St. Louis from another part of the country,” said Zinovchik. 

Even students had amazing things to say about Zinovchik. Ana Fracchia had Zinovchik for junior year chemistry and is currently in AP Chemistry. She also received his South Star last school year. 

“My favorite thing about Mr. Z is that he always tries to help in any way possible and he wants all of his students to succeed,” said Fracchia. 

Being a teacher from another country gives Zinovchik many challenges but also many benefits. 

“The advantage of being a teacher from another country is that I have another culture and language to draw from to help my students. I speak fluent Russian and I grew up during the Soviet Union times when Belarus was under what is not Russia (and still is, really). In chemistry, there are a lot of connections to Russia, the biggest being that the Periodic Table was originally formulated in its current form by the great Russian chemist Dimitry Mendeleev. The only living chemist after whom an element is named (#118 – Oganesson) is Yuriy Oganessian, also a Russian physicist. I speak to my student in Russian sometimes just to change things up a bit,” said Zinovchik. 

The recent issues between Russia and Ukraine have hit close to home for Zinovchik.  

“A lot of the politics of Russia centers around saber-rattling, trying to show the West and the world how big they are and sadly this causes unnecessary suffering in the little wars that break out here and there. Russia is the biggest country in the world by far and they don’t need any more land or resources but pride is getting in its way,” he said. 

All in all, Zinovchik is most known for his experiments, mainly the ones where he blows things up. 

“My favorite experiment is the ‘Double Boiling Copper Quarter’ experiment. It is simple yet fascinating. I also enjoy all things that go ‘boom’,” said Zinovchik. 

His most-known experiment is the pumpkin explosion experiment. 

“Blowing up pumpkins in the fall or watermelons in the spring/summer is the most satisfying of the explosive experiments I do, especially if they disintegrate into small pieces as they fly towards the audience. It is safe enough so that you can catch a piece of flying fruit if you are lucky,” said Zinovchik. 

Though there’s more to Zinovchik than just education. He is a father and loves to spend time with his kids. 

“Now that I have kids my hobbies center around them. We enjoy going to the park, playing board games, and watching goofy Youtube channels together (How Ridiculous is one of your favorites). When I have some free time, I like to play the piano,” said Zinovcjik.

Most importantly he cares greatly about his students and the education his students receive. 

“My favorite part about teaching is inspiring students and getting them excited about science/chemistry,” said Zinovchik