The Jr. Bill (Nye)’s are back at it again! On Monday night, the best and brightest of the St. Louis U. High’s science community convened to put on this fall’s STEM Night, showcasing the achievements and endeavors of several Jr. Billikens. Ranging from one student’s cancer research to the activist funding of another, the event provided a fuller view of the Science Department’s objectives.

Science teacher Mary Russo spearheaded the event, recruiting the students and organizing their presentations. After a one-year hiatus, Russo wanted to revive the platform for students to display the diverse personal research they have worked hard on.

“With the pandemic we couldn’t do it last year, but this year we’ve tried to open up the experience a bit,” said Russo. “I reached out to the Counseling, Math, Computer, and Science Departments as well as the whole school to make sure we captured the best work from our students.”

In the past, STEM Nights has focused on students’ work with the Students and Teachers as Research Scientists program, or STARS. This program strives to expose students to a variety of scientific fields of study through direct work with successful professionals in research institutions. Though there were several students this time who were involved in STARS, the group of presenters shared a variety of more diverse experiences this year. 

The event opened up with a presentation from science teacher Bill Anderson, who explained the Science Department’s first longitudinal program at SLUH, the STEM weather balloon, which he created years ago. With the added benefit of a longitudinal study, students can use data from years preceding them, and the study will continue for years ahead.

“One thing that I had wanted to do for quite some time, was the launch of a weather balloon which would be just a tremendously exciting science project for our young men to undertake,” said Anderson. 

In these launchings, Mr. Anderson’s main objectives were to provide students with a chance to learn about the structure and function of the atmosphere, to study seasonal changes, to observe long term patterns, and to develop collaboration with students and teachers across different fields. The project itself is made possible by the partnership between the Science and IT Departments, with the help of Director of Information Technology Jonathan Dickmann in orchestrating the launch. 

“Launch day finally comes along and everybody’s got a task,” said Anderson. “Others have a variety of tasks—getting the payload ready, making sure the instruments are working.”

Once the balloon is launched, Anderson and Dickmann chase it as it gathers its data of temperature, altitude, and even photography.

“I can't say enough about the magnitude of this accomplishment,” Anderson said. “We've got these young men having an extremely rare opportunity to venture that far into the atmosphere. It's just mind boggling, and I'm amazed every time that we can pull this off and we get the data, and we're seeing the relationships and the patterns that we're supposed to see.”

Anderson was followed by a presentation from senior Angad Gothra, who worked with the STARS program in a cancer research project.

“I was actually lucky enough to be assigned to a wet lab (experimental lab) and view what my mentor did and do what I was researching for the summer,” said Gothra. “I was paired with Dr. (Angela) Hirbe at Washington University.”

Gothra studied the Neurofibromatosis Type 1 genetic disorder, specifically the tyrosine kinase two, or TYK2 protein. Through his research, he worked to find whether TYK2 could serve as a biomarker for malignant tumors, and if this could serve as a viable strategy in treatment of these tumors.

“I think the program was great in the sense that I was able to get exposed to laboratory discipline and actually witness how to conduct research on something so serious as cancer,” said Gothra. “I think I benefited most from this program in the sense that I can later apply the knowledge that I learned in college and hopefully in medical school as well.”

Gothra even received special recognition in the Research Paper Award for his excellent STARS manuscript outlining his research.

Senior Xavier Jallow followed Gothra, chronicling his experiences working in a mobile clinic in Cadet, Mo. There he served those who could not afford medical insurance, providing basic medical care that would not be available to them otherwise.

“We got to see a plethora of cases, and so mainly what the medical van does is they serve acute care like your cold, flu, and minor injuries,” explained Jallow. “They also do physicals and psychiatric things like depression and anxiety, to chronic diseases like diabetes and heart and pulmonary diseases.”

This shadowing stint opened Jallow up to an expanse of medical experience, providing a framework for his future in medical careers.

Next, senior Robert Mize explained his research on amyloids, which are self-constructing proteins that often are found in tissue abnormalities. 

“Through my summer project, I got a deeper understanding of scientific research because I had never really worked in a lab or with an actual lab before. It also offered insight into dozens of speakers, from experienced doctors to a dual MD/PhD student, and that kind of gave me a lot of good ideas on where I might want to go and college and beyond,” said Mize. “It just gave me connections with other students interested in similar careers, and it also is a chance to be responsible and independent.”

Junior Freddy Laux worked with a Pre-Med advisor at Washington University, and shared the work he did to aid in the treatment of schistosomiasis in Uganda. It was recently discovered that this parasitic disease is completely preventable with the drug Praziquantel.

“I worked with these other high school students and WashU students to adapt to very unique methods of fundraising,” said Freddy Laux. “We really had to convince them that the money they were donating was impactful.”

Laux is currently trying to plan an internship in which he can actually visit the clinic in Uganda that he was helping to fund from here in Saint Louis.

“I think my biggest takeaway is that your ability to reach out and use the resources that are there provided in front of you is very powerful, and that's going to determine the type of experiences that you have,” said Laux. “So as you think about your future here at SLUH, think about your future involving making the most of what you're passionate about.”

Moving into a more abstract concept of STEM, senior Richard Taylor discussed the similarities between physics and time in chemistry.

“I would definitely recommend (the program) if you’re interested in medical research,” said Richard Taylor. “All of this will be really helpful when I get to do undergrad research and college.”

After Taylor’s presentation came the final presentation of the night, as seniors Matthew Leight, JP Torack, and sophomore Thad Berta shared their work on aviation and robotics. Leight and Torack both participated in an extensive aviation engineering class taught by science teacher Bradley Miller at SLUH over the summer. 

“The class covered the basic principles of flight from a physics perspective, engineering design and then accumulated in building an RC plane,” said JP Torack. “We also had the opportunity to visit several aviation related sites including the airport which was neat to gain that first hand experience..”

Leight and Torack, along with Berta, also gave insight to SLUH’s robotics program. The Robotics Club encompasses a range of talents and skills that come together into one cohesive masterpiece.

“Everyone has different interests and different talents. Thad is really good with programming electronics. Matthew is great with CAD and designing, and my specialty is more on the building side,” said Torack. “But when we all come together and use our different talents and communicate we’re able to produce functioning robots and functioning planes. It's really cool.”

Following a long night of student and teacher representation of STEM, Science Department chair Tim O’Keefe couldn’t have been more proud of the outcome of the event.  The event served its purpose of inspiring and educating attendees through the sophisticated research of members from the SLUH community.

“I think our Science Department is very strong for helping our students develop the fundamentals in biology, chemistry, and physics, during freshman through junior year and then having all the different possibilities that they can take in senior year,” said O’Keefe. “One of the coolest things for me is always seeing the guys show the great things they do in life, and I can tell they are all going to do amazing things, and the STEM night just solidified that belief.”