According to science department chairperson Jennifer Marlow, the first big event in the department is the Indiana Junior Academy of Science competition. She said it will be in Bloomington at Indiana University on Nov. 13. Marlow also said students who wish to sign up should see her by Oct. 5.

“There’s different competitions involved that day, from research to Science Olympiad, issues competition, and a variety of other things,” Marlow said.

The science department has also introduced a new course this year as well as hired several new teachers.

“Our new class that is a big hit right now in the science department is a project lead the way class,” Marlow said. “It’s a biomedical sciences program through project lead the way. The first year course of that is called Principles of Biomedical Sciences. It’s a four-year program if students choose to stay in it for four years.”

Science teachers Sarah Gillim, Abigail Soltis, and Craig Harper teach this course.

Soltis said the class is very hands-on, with more labs than other science classes. She said the class investigates the death of a fictional person, Anna Garcia, and looks at the various ailments she has, making it a more project-based class.

“The cool thing is it’s a lot of projects and hands-on—there’s not a lot of lecture, and the students are always working toward solving this problem for the whole unit, so it’s definitely driven in a project-based way,” Soltis said.

Also, Soltis said Principles of Biomedical Sciences is a good class for students who are looking into some sort of science but are not quite sure yet because the class is an introductory course. Junior Madelyn Cavanaugh said she took the class for this reason.

“I have been interested in biomedical engineering for college, so when I heard that we had a principles of biomedical sciences class, I was kind of like, it may be a good option for college,” Cavanaugh said.

The class is currently open to all grades because it is the first year of the program; however, Marlow said the class would be restricted to freshman and sophomores for next year because it is designed as an introductory course. She also said the second year course will be available for next year as well.

“I will be taking the second year class next year,” Cavanaugh said. “But if I had the opportunity to take all four classes, I definitely would.