According to science department chairperson Jennifer Marlow, there will be a few changes in science curriculums. She said the department will add AP Physics 2 and possibly make Astronomy a dual-credit course. Also, the department may add a Project Lead the Way course in biomedical science.

“Nothing changes in Astronomy. It’s just if students want to sign up for dual credit through the University of Indianapolis, they’re going to have the opportunity to do that. And the PLTW course, if we’re able to start up that program, the PLTW course will be Principles of Biomedical Science, and it would be a first-year course in what could be up to three courses,” Marlow said.

Marlow said the PLTW course will not count as a biology or physical sciences credit for graduation but will count as a science elective. She said the PLTW program is now well-established at many schools and has a more hands-on experience.

Also, two juniors, Sreya Vemuri and Kamna Gupta, will present research at the Indiana Junior Academy of Science competition on Nov. 7. On the same day, senior Rishabh Kumar will present his research at the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology.

Gupta said she did research on the effects of retinoic acid, or vitamin A, in axolotls. She first got into this topic in her freshman year, having done research on other topics prior to that.

“Well, I’ve been doing science fairs since middle school, and I usually focused on dietary sciences, and it wasn’t really calling to me. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t really calling to me. So I went to a science fair in my eighth grade year and my lab mentor came over to judge me and he just told me a little about and I thought that was really interesting so I got into it as a freshman,” Gupta said.

Though she was not always interested in science, Gupta said it is now a huge part of her life.

“I didn’t want to do research, I didn’t want to do science, I didn’t want to do any biology even when I was in middle school. My dad kind of pushed me into it, and I was like ‘oh, fine, I’ll try it,’ and it turned out to be one of the biggest parts of my life and I enjoy it so much now, to the extent that I spent pretty much all of my summer in a lab and I was fine with that,” Gupta said.