The Academy Scholars Program is considered an opportunity for students with a passion for scholarship, creative writing, visual art, performing art, or research (in the sciences, social sciences, or humanities) to pursue that passion by means of developing and working on a significant, independent project.
For graduating ‘24 academy scholars, this program has become more than just a graduation cord, it is a centerpiece of their high school career and an escape for all: independent thought, self-expression, and a creative process where their mind can follow its ambitions through both a creative aspect and a technical aspect.
Lucia Smigiel ‘24 is one of the few who chose this independent research program. Through an engineering lens, she went on a quest for both design and a plan for future blueprints of modern science. She created cardboard furniture for single-usage, new homeowners, or college students, which is affordable, practical and recyclable. As an environmental advocate, Smigiel researched the damage caused on the environment based on the consumption of human goods, specifically furniture.
Driven to not only leave the streets cleaner, but the planet healthier, she strived to create an alternative approach to curbside furniture.
“Moving my siblings into college and seeing the streets lined with unused furniture waiting to go to the landfill and thinking I could create a better solution,” Smigiel said, “I was proud to see my work and time spent to see it all together and finished.”
Melinda Shen ‘24 is alongside the ones who was an academy scholar from start to finish. She described her process as both years one and two, being research on top of research, with a cherry of research on top. She says the hardest part of the process was diving so deeply into your project, that she just ended up with more questions she wanted to explore in her limited time.
Shen’s project was writing a scientific fiction/dystopian novel.
“A teenager named Koy who finds himself living on the bottom floor of a city,” Shen said, “Where socioeconomic status is identified by which living height one lives on.
Shen expresses her pride when seeing the finished product.
“Getting [to see] the actual physical book,” Shen said, “It’s nice to show people the book that I’ve been telling everyone I was writing for the past couple of years.”
In the Academy Scholars Program, students faced deadlines and long-lasting research projects which they said at times felt never-ending; however, the passion they discovered and the pride and contentment that came with completing the project was incomparable to any of its struggles. They felt as if they have contributed or begun a major operation that they could call their own, as well as dedicate it to help from Ms. Mary Fraser, Dr. Julie Kimmel, and Ms. Liz Cravero.