Jia Anand ’24 and Avery Leonard ’24 had a memorable day at Gillette Stadium on April 5. Along with five St. Mark’s peers from the Taft STEM Fellowship, they competed with over 350 students at the Massachusetts High School Science and Engineering Fair (MSEF). Anand took home the Sanofi grand prize, earning first place and $10,000 for the highest-scoring project overall, while Leonard won a first-place award and the Alnylam Excellence in Bioscience Award for the top biology project. The duo also qualified as delegates for the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world’s largest pre-college STEM competition.
The success of last year’s Taft STEM fellows is not an isolated incident. Initiated in 2012 thanks to a $6 million donation from the Taft family, the STEM fellowship has become a launchpad for St. Mark’s scientists. Directed by biology teacher Lindsey Lohwater and Science Department Chair David Palmer, the fellowship has been especially appealing to female students, who have excelled at regional and state fairs in recent years.
In 2023, Sophie Chiang ’23 won a first-place award at MSEF while Jiayi Yu ’23 and Arianne Motakef ’23 earned honorable mentions. In 2022, three fellows earned awards at the regional fair in Worcester, including Grand Prize Winner Jackie Zatsiorsky ’22. Just like Anand and Leonard, Zatsiorsky went on to compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair with approximately 1,700 students from more than 75 countries. In fact, since Desmond Goodwin ’16 became the first fellow to qualify for the ISEF, Taft STEM fellows have qualified for the international fair nearly every year.
This final competition is the culmination of a year of work and research that begins with a single application. To be considered for the fellowship, students submit a three-part portfolio in the spring of their V Form year. Between 15 and 25 students apply, and four to 12 are accepted.
Over the summer, fellows complete research to formulate their projects. In the fall, they narrow down their research question, determine a program of study, and apply to science fairs. During the winter, they conduct research and prepare for the fairs by putting together a lab and procedure. Spring is spent preparing presentations, writing a research paper, and trying to publish it in a high school journal.
Fellows are also expected to connect with mentors beyond St. Mark’s. Mentorship support ranges from emails and phone calls with professors to the use of outside labs for experiments with graduate students. In addition, fellows depend on generous support from St. Mark’s faculty.
“It takes a village,” says Lohwater. “People really step up to help these students in every way they can.”
This year, Taft STEM fellows pursued projects in biology, mechanical engineering, and technology. Anand’s Alzheimer's research and Leonard’s fertility and cancer investigations were executed on campus, while Yolanda Zhou ’24 used the MIT wind tunnel to explore wind-resistant roof designs for tornados, and Tyler Scaringella ’24 worked with law enforcement and a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon to study large language models and machine learning to detect false 911 SWAT calls.
“The neatest part about how this works is that kids come here and find a real calling through this program,” explains Palmer.
In fact, several former fellows are now studying STEM in college and working in STEM fields. One of the first fellows, Alexandra Mills ’14, recently graduated from medical school with plans to become an OB-GYN. For many St. Markers, the fellowship plants a seed that may grow into a future STEM career.
“Exposing myself to the scientific research world, reaching out to 50-plus professors, establishing connections with mentors, and learning lifelong skills of problem-solving, analysis, and communication were all invaluable,” says Anand.
“The highlight for me was the tight-knit relationships I was able to form with all of the students in the program,” adds Leonard. “Although the STEM Fellowship gave us all lessons on what it is like to conduct research, I think we are also walking away from the experience with lessons we will use in college and in the future.”
-Jackie Waters