On Wednesday, May 30 BC hosted an afternoon of research presentations by seniors in the Senior Scholars and Science Research & Design programs after years of rigorous independent research in the sciences and humanities.
BC's Senior Scholars program prepares 12th graders to be responsible researchers, inquisitive citizens, and dynamic writers. This selective and demanding program is designed for students who are interested in pursuing serious scholarly work in the humanities. This year, 12 seniors presented on subjects like how environmental changes affects animal dietary preferences, topical genetic and epigenetic studies, CRISPR, the impact of nutritional supplements on athletes, visual illusions in baseball pitches, and factors that can affect students' mood, memory, and decision making.
In the highly selective, three-year Science Research & Design program, 10th-12th grade students conduct original scientific research and become experts in a field of study, writing their own essential questions and gaining a deep understanding of the dynamic, evolving nature of science. The goal of the program is for students to experience scientific research as scientists do. This year 5 seniors presented their independent projects in the humanities on topics ranging from the U.S. opioid crisis, African dance in elements in U.S. jazz, the manic pixie dream girl trope, female soldiers in popular culture, and the tension between civil protest and the mental health system.
SENIOR SCHOLARS
- Marley D. '18: A Disruptive Diagnosis: How Dissociative Disorders Were Proxy For The Pathologization of Civil Protest
- Keely C. '18: Killing Our Country: The Modern American Opioid Crisis
- Mia G. '18: Starring Warrior Women: An Analysis of Female Soldiers and Their Representation in Popular Culture
- Patrick G. '18: So You Think You Can Appropriate African Dance: How White Colonizers Have Stolen From Africa
- Gemma S. '18: Half Girl, Half Enigma: The Manic Pixie Dream Girl in Today's Society
SCIENCE RESEARCH & DESIGN
- Julia H. '18 - The Effect of Methylation on Growth Rates in Plants
- Carolyn K. '18 - Developing a Program to Identify False-Positive Identification of Vocal-Learning Genes
- Ellie P. '18 - Ant Tunneling Behavior in Agar Environments by the Red Harvester Ant
- Ian E. '18 - Steppe Tortoise Dietary Specialization While Receiving Differing Daylight Cycles
- Imogen M. '18 - The Effect of Naturally Found Sugars and Processed Sugars on Mood Measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)
- Alyssa P. '18 - Memory Retention and Emotional Stimuli in Accordance to Race
- Katrina F. '18 - How Does rRNA Expression Differ in Tissue Sample Treated with an mTOR Activator, CX-5461, an mTOR Activator and CX-5461, or a Control Solution?
- James P. '18 - How Do Varying Types of Exercise Affect Mood Over the Span of a Day?
- Kian S. '18 - CRISPR/Cas9 Editing
- Nysa S.'18 - Factors Affecting Academic Dishonesty at High School
- Sara T. '18 - A Comparison of Vertical Illusions Between Knuckleball and Traditional Pitch Sequences
- Lukas Y. '18 - The Effects of Protein and Carbohydrate Supplementation on High School Varsity Basketball Players' Energy and Recovery Level