North Dallas students are excelling in creative lessons that combine science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.
Greenhill students inspired to invent
SCOTS PROBE ROBOTIC SURGERY, MEDICAL MYTHS, FLIGHT
By Sarah Hodges sarah.hodges@peoplenewspapers.com
Do you wonder what it’s like to be a cancer researcher, or how medical students train to use robotic surgical systems? Ever thought about flying for the Air Force, developing the next hit video game, or building a safer highway?
“I’m hoping that at some point in the future, somebody goes, ‘I remember that,’ and it changes what they choose to do with their life.”
John Wallace
Highland Park High School students had a chance to explore these careers and many more in the fields of science, technology, engineering, medicine, and research during the school’s annual Science & Technology Festival.
Seventy industry leaders donated their time to make the 18th annual festival a success. Students chose to attend a session that sparked their interest during their regularly scheduled science and technology classes.
“I hope it was fun and engaging, and that students were able to find potential careers to explore for their future,” said Kimberly Slade, who co-chaired the event with Michele Vicente.
The chairs worked to involve parents and alumni, to increase the variety of speakers, and to introduce
their skill at the system’s training simulator and sat in the surgeon console themselves. Their surgery was less high-stakes; they were challenged to manipulate the da Vinci’s four arms to put tiny rubber bands onto colorful, pinkie-sized mounds.
“Uh-oh, you got it mad,” Davis jokingly told freshman Isabel Carvalho as the robot made a low beeping sound while she aimed the rubber bands.
students to careers they might not have previously considered, Slade said. The festival was made possible by support from presenting sponsor La Fiesta de las Seis Banderas and the Highland Park Education Foundation.
In the high school’s auditorium on Nov. 18, Daniel G. Davis, chief of bariatric surgery at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, introduced students to the fifth generation of the da Vinci robotic surgical system, which he
said arrived at Baylor this summer.
Davis showed students a video of a sleeve gastrectomy, a weight loss surgery which decreases the stomach’s size from that of a football to a large banana.
Then, the high schoolers tried
Two floors above Davis, oral and maxillofacial surgeon John Wallace took on the myth that drinking pineapple juice before a wisdom tooth extraction reduces inflammation after surgery.
Pineapples, he explained, contain an anti-inflammatory agent. But patients would need to eat 420 pounds of the fruit for it to have an effect.
Wallace also introduced students to the X-Guide system, technology he uses daily to place dental implants. He explained how the device worked before giving students a chance to handle the drill themselves.
“I’m hoping that at some point in the future, somebody goes, ‘I remember that,’ and it changes what they choose to do with their life,” Wallace said. “It tickles something in their brain, and, wow, they get motivated to do something.”
In another classroom, HPHS junior Raleigh Jewell, who said he’s interested in a career in the Air Force, listened to a presentation from Boeing 767 first officer and Air Force reservist Kevin Gibbs.
“I think that it definitely gives a little bit more perspective of what goes and on and what he’s done career-wise,” Jewell said, explaining that he’s now even more interested in an Air Force career. “It gives me a better perspective of a day in the life.”
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Scots take a seat in the surgeon console of the fifth generation of the da Vinci robotic surgical system. Students test the X-Guide system. Boeing 767 first officer and Air Force reservist Kevin Gibbs speaks with students. Dr. Stacey Hail shares stories of real emergency room cases, including some involving poisons, drugs, and murder mysteries. CHRIS MCGATHEY
Learn more about our 100 + choice schools and programs during a Discover Dallas ISD Virtual session!
HIGHLAND PARK ISD
STEAM
Larry Lavine, HP Alum and founder of Chili’s Restaurants advises MAPS Business Design and Leadership students on a restaurant research project.
ELEMENTARY
All our elementary schools are equipped with unique spaces where our youngest students participate in dynamic STEAM activities throughout the year.
INTERMEDIATE & MIDDLE
Our 5th-8th grade students have a wide range of opportunities to pursue STEAM topics including Engineering, Coding, Robotics and Digital Media.
The MAPS program, known for its innovative approach to education, is excited to partner with the MoneyGram-Haas F1 team. This collaboration offers students unique opportunities to work on real-world projects with professionals from Formula 1 which has grown from a minor sport to a multibillion-dollar enterprise thanks to its highspeed thrills, technological advances, and renowned drivers.
MOODY ADVANCED PROFESSIONAL STUDIES @ HPHS
Where can High School students have authentic learning experiences from outstanding teachers and industry experts?
Right here in the MAPS Program at HPHS. Our classes include Business Design and Leadership, Environmental Architecture, Brain Science and Health, Engineering Design, Modern Media, and Sports Analytics.
Pictured Above: Students with MoneyGramHAAS F1 Driver Kevin Magnussen at the MAPS Race to Innovation Event.
Robotics Team Gobbles Up the Competition in Turkey Showdown
By Sarah Hodges sarah.hodges@peoplenewspapers.com
A team of young roboticists from Magikid Highland Park catapulted over the competition this November to bring home a win in the VEX IQ Robotics Competition Turkey Showdown.
The team’s five members — McCulloch Intermediate students Hayden Ernst and Donovan Moore, St. Mark’s School of Texas student Eason Lu, University Park Elementary student Connor Moore, and homeschooled student Miken Mompremier — finished first overall out of 26 teams in the competition. They also shared the Teamwork Champion award and captured the Robot Skills Champion award.
This was just Team Capybara’s second competition, and the first for their robot, Womp Womp. The team competed with another robot, Tom, earlier this year before a redesign that improved Womp Womp’s ability to play VEX IQ’s Rapid Relay game.
During the game, Womp Womp was challenged to pass and shoot balls through four goals arranged in stacks of two. The team advanced through multiple rounds of competition, and each lasted just 60 seconds.
In the Teamwork Challenge,
“You can’t just stick with the same design and expect to get much better gradually.” Miken Mompremier
Womp Womp had to cooperate with a robot from a different team to pass the ball and move it through the goal. In another round, Womp Womp needed to move autonomously through the course without direction from its human programmers. A third challenge tested the team’s ability to remotely maneuver Womp Womp.
Team members used creative coding to prepare for the game. Along the way, they worked to improve Womp Womp’s catapult, which was key to reaching the top goals and scoring more points.
When team members found that a motor kept working to lower the catapult even after Womp Womp was ready to score
again, they programmed their robot to sense the catapult’s position and stop the motor, Eason explained. The game’s rules require robots to start by touching a border wall. But Hayden had the idea to create an extendable arm that snaps back onto the robot once it begins moving, enabling Womp
Womp to start closer to the center of the court.
Donovan used coding to solve the problem of drift, an issue created because Womp Womp’s wheels can turn in any direction without having to rotate.
Team members learned about all aspects of their robot, but each specialized in their own role. They took robotics classes at Magikid Highland Park before preparing to compete.
The members of Team Capybara said they now practice and refine their robot for at least seven hours each week. In the process, they’ve learned the value of continually improving their design.
“You can’t just stick with the same design and expect to get much better gradually,” Miken said. “You can get good to a certain amount with this design, but there’s always something better.“
Now, the members of Team Capybara have their eye on a spot in the VEX Robotics World Championship this spring. They’re hoping to earn a ticket by performing well at their next competition, a top-tier event in Florida. But their upcoming trip to the “Fun in the Sun Signature Event” won’t be all hard work.
In addition to snagging a “golden ticket,” Connor said, he hopes to “go to Disneyworld!”
Team Capybara competes at the VEX IQ Robotics Competition Turkey Showdown. COURTESY MAGIKID HIGHLAND PARK
The Hockaday School Teaches Science With a Purpose
At The Hockaday School, middle school students combine science and social impact in a special project beginning in the seventh grade.
Students visit the Joppa neighborhood in Dallas and partner with Joppy Momma’s Farm to test soil and water to offer remediation solutions.
As eighth graders, students grow microgreens in class as part of their investigation of Earth’s biosphere and ecosystems.
“By growing microgreens for Joppy Momma’s Farm, the students are doing science with a purpose.” Peggy Cagle
As students grow the greens, they learn the science of plant growth, practice scientific inquiry skills, and gain a deeper understanding of nutrients in food. Students study the stages of germination, the conditions necessary for germination, how to use
various laboratory tools to collect data, how to formulate scientific conclusions based in evidence, and how to evaluate uncertainty in experimental results. Students explore how and why a
seed germinates, including why water and exposure to air are important as well as how a germinating seed gets energy before it can get energy from photosynthesis.
Partnering with Hockaday’s
Asian Mint, owned by Hockaday alumna Nikky Phinyawatana, class of ‘96.
Proceeds from the sale are used to expand the farm, which produces fresh, nutritious foods and makes it more readily available to the neighborhood.
“It’s important for students to understand the connection between what they are learning and the real world,” said director of innovation and collaboration Laura Day. “This partnership does that and creates a social impact.”
Science Department chair Peggy Cagle sees the project fitting seamlessly within the curriculum.
Dr. William B. Dean Institute for Social Impact, students then donate the microgreens to Joppy Momma’s Farm, where farmers sell them to restaurants including Cafe Momentum and
“By growing microgreens for Joppy Momma’s Farm, the students are doing science with a purpose,” Cagle said. “Not only do they learn about the science of plant growth and practice inquiry skills, but they also see how their learning can have a positive impact. Our students also love watching the microgreens grow, then tend to them meticulously, and they are excited about the opportunity to visit local restaurants and taste their own products.”
–Compiled by Claudia Carson-Habeeb
your creativity
TOP, FROM LEFT: Joppy Farm’s Kim High with Hockaday students Claire Morris, Anya Hegde, and Yihan Sun. BOTTOM: Chloe Ku and Hollis Wrighton. COURTESY HOCKADAY
MODELS, EXPOS, EGG DROPS, INVENTIONS,
AND HAIKUS
Area schools explore a variety of ways to prompt 21st century learning
STEM education isn’t just about teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to students of all ages.
It’s also about combining those subjects — often adding art for STEAM — to engage student interest in the technical and design skills needed for jobs in the 21st century.
This roundup of area examples is but a sampling of how STEM/STEAM learning is unfolding on campuses near you.
The Compass School of Texas
A second-grade class’s heart studies began with a well-known spider.
The book Charlotte’s Web sparked the curiosity of students tasked with exploring “heartwarming tales” before turning inward aided by a Compass parent with expertise in the blood-pumping organ.
Dr. Matthew Dickson provided insight into cardiovascular disease and nuclear cardiology, leading to health and wellness lessons focused on what makes a heart healthy.
Students looked at nutrition and physical activity to understand the impact of diet and exercise.
The school’s farm-to-table program’s hands-on food curriculum paired the students’ participation in gardening with creating and eating foods that are delicious and healthy.
Organ studies continued in art class, where students worked with their teacher to create a three-foot labelled heart.
In math, they designed a game to study the flow of red and white blood cells, moving pieces through the body, and adding ones on their way to the heart.
For English, the students wrote essays and showcased them for parents and grandparents. Their guests encountered hanging blood vessels and cells and so experienced entering into “the heart of the lesson.”
Dallas ISD
Texas’ second largest school district, unsurprisingly, tackles STEAM learning in huge ways.
Dallas ISD is home to the largest STEM Expo in Texas, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in February 2024 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
The 2025 expo is scheduled Jan. 25 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Fair Park.
District leaders describe it as more than a scientific fair, because it allows students to investigate, design, and create real-world science, technology, engineering and math and brings together numerous district departments and campuses, as well as industry and academic partners.
“Our participants often get enthusiastic when they see new exhibitions or get in touch early to volunteer or participate,” Crystal Alexander, a Dallas ISD graduate and employee for nearly a quarter century, told the district’s news team in 2024. “The most positive comment is witnessing families come back year after year with more members.”
In a more recent example of the district’s expansive STEAM focus, the Dallas ISD Texas Math & Science Coaches Association had to hold two invitational meets in the fall to accommodate all those wanting to practice for UIL competition.
More than 1,300 students from 91 schools participated in the meet with students in grades three through 12 competing in number sense, calculator applications, math, and science.
“I’ve seen firsthand how the competition positively impacts my students,” said Kendall Russo, the TMSCA coach at Everette L. Degolyer Elementary School. “Through their participation, they’ve developed a love for learning, embraced challenges with enthusiasm, and built a strong sense of pride in themselves and representing their school.”
The Lamplighter School
With Innovative Projects, a new class introduced this year, teachers are cooking up STEAM learning for students in all grade levels.
First and second graders prepare various recipes while older students expand on that learning with design concepts, problem solving, and robots.
“These cooking projects allow students to improve their ability to follow multi-step directions while incorporating the math and measuring skills used in cooking,” said Stephen Scott, assistant head for lower school teaching and learning.
“Third graders conducted an ‘egg drop’ experiment that had themes of physics and design thinking,” he added. “Fourth graders have taken part in projects focused on robotics, which incorporates programming and problem solving.”
The Innovative Projects class is housed in the school’s state-of-the-art Eastin Family Innovation Lab and students utilize the building’s project room and Enrico Family Teaching Kitchen for cooking lessons, science experiments, and STEM challenges. Along with learning woodshop and robotics, the school’s teaching kitchen is a highlight among students.
Focusing on student discovery, the Innovation Lab’s open space learning environment is filled with light and is integrated into the landscape to support exploration alongside instruction. Featuring cypress wood planks and wrapped in copper, the interior and exterior allows an open concept for its learning spaces.
Trinity Christian Academy
At TCA, STEM learning often involves helping others, and students are flush with interesting ideas.
For example, Upper School students can
gain real-world experience and hone leadership skills by joining Tech Stop. In the program, the students assist teachers and peers with computer issues.
Also, an honors-level engineering class open to seniors comes with a final project focused on designing and developing new devices to help a local children with special needs. This project not only helps the children and their families by giving them useful tools and devices that don’t exist in the marketplace, but also teaches students that engineering skills can be used to improve the lives of those in the community, TCA officials said.
However, STEM learning doesn’t wait until high school. All lower school students in kindergarten through fourth grade attend a STEM lab, intentionally designed to provide opportunities for hands-on inquiry, exploration and discovery.
Wesley Prep
Fourth graders researching Texas ecoregions in their science and Texas history studies created posters and dioramas to model important plants, animals, and landforms in their areas of study.
Their research came to life when they focused on a specific animal native to their ecoregion and created a realistic habitat that would meet the live animal’s needs in the classroom.
Students recorded observations for the classroom animals over several weeks to study locomotion, behavioral adaptations, physical adaptations, body structure, and feeding habitats.
They also wrote ode, free verse, and haiku poems about the state park, plants, and animals in their ecoregions and performed them for their families and grandparents.
–Compiled by Claudia Carson-Habeeb and William Taylor
The giant model heart Compass second graders made with their teacher includes the aorta and arteries. GEORGE FIALA
Dallas ISD’s annual STEM Expo features dozens of exhibits and showcases opportunities the district offers, including STEM and STEAM-focused programs, career institutes, collegiate academies, and career and technical education pathways. COURTESY DALLAS ISD
Lamplighter first graders find out how tasty math can be as they explore geometry and other concepts by making pastry pinwheels. COURTESY LAMPLIGHTER
Seniors in an honors-level engineering class design and present a project at Trinity Christian Academy. COURTESY TCA
Wesley Prep students recorded observations of classroom animals over several weeks. COURTESY WESLEY PREP
LEFT TO RIGHT: Alexandra Billmyre, Austin Holmes, Amy Ford, Ryan Nordhaus*, Rob McAngus*+†, George Parker*, Jim Mueller*•+†, Charlie Hodges*•+†, Abby M. Foster*+, Shane Landers, Kim Meaders, Ravi Mohan, and Maddison Clark
Invention Sparked by Greenhill’s Design and Innovation Program
Isabel (Isa) Tanner, a junior at Greenhill School, set out to redefine hydration for elite athletes, imagining a future where these athletes no longer rely on generic sports drinks but instead have custom hydration tailored to their needs in real time.
“Her work has ignited a passion that drives her to independently explore advanced concepts, such as microfluid design and material delivery systems.” Matt Abbondanzio
Isa’s journey began in her Design Thinking to Open Entrepreneurship course within Greenhill’s Design + Innovation program last year. During the ethnographic research phase of the course, Isa made a discovery: Elite athletes need tailored electrolyte replenishment to
maintain peak performance. Inspired by this insight, Isa set out to design a groundbreaking hydration system for athletes. Her patent-pending invention includes a microfluidic patch
designed to capture an athlete’s sweat, analyze it using specific chemical indicators, and communicate results through an app. The data triggers a delivery system in a water bottle to release the exact blend of electrolytes customized to the athlete’s individual needs, ensuring top athletic performance.
In April, Isa’s innovation impressed a panel of executives at Greenhill’s inaugural What’s NEXT Pitch event where she
earned a $3,000 prize to push her project forward. The funding allowed her to develop a proof-ofconcept for her invention.
Leveraging her 3D modeling skills and access to a professional grade stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer in Greenhill’s Design + Innovation Lab, Isa produced an initial microfluidic patch with channels as small as 1mm. With early tests showing promise, the innovator is now focusing on developing a functional delivery mechanism to complete the system.
Sights set on having a working prototype by March 2025, Isa is determined to redefine hydration for elite athletes and open doors to next-level, personalized athletic performance.
“Isa exemplifies the principles we strive to instill in the Design + Innovation program at Greenhill: strategically identifying and solving the right problems while embracing uncertainty. Her work has ignited a passion that drives her to independently explore advanced concepts, such as microfluid design and material delivery systems. For both Isa and Greenhill, this is just the beginning,” shared Matt Abbondanzio, Greenhill’s director of design + innovation.
–Compiled by Claudia
Carson-Habeeb
Isabel Tanner presents during pitch night, showcases her innovation to alumni and faculty, and receives $3,000 prize check. COURTESY GREENHILL SCHOOL
SMU Team Puts STEM-Skills to Work, Collaborates to Speed Drug Discovery
By Sarah Hodges sarah.hodges@peoplenewspapers.com
Developing a new drug is a massive undertaking that can take 15 years and cost more than $2.5 billion dollars.
But a team of researchers from SMU has found a way to shorten parts of the process. They’ve developed a tool called SmartCADD, short for Computer Assisted Drug Design platform, to narrow down the chemical compounds that might be used to develop new drugs.
SmartCADD can identify drug design candidates from a billion possible compounds in days with good computational resources, said professor Elfi Kraka, who heads SMU’s Computational and Theoretical Chemistry Group.
The tool uses artificial intelligence to screen chemical compounds and identify the most promising. But, unlike typical AI, it’s not a black box.
“One important new feature in what we use is so called explainable AI,” Kraka said. “So, you also get an explanation of why the AI system did what it did.”
SmartCADD uses those explanations to whittle down the number of potential candidates even further by combining filters with quantum chemical evaluations and models that help align a chemical compound’s features to where they might fit on a protein.
“You can think of it like when people are panning for gold and putting the dirt through finer and finer grain things, until they get to the end, and they get the dust,” explained Corey Clark, assistant
professor of computer science in the Lyle School of Engineering and deputy director of Research at SMU Guildhall.
SmartCADD’s result pinpoints the best drug candidates to bind to target proteins. A better fit means a more effective drug. SmartCADD cuts out potential drugs that won’t travel effectively through the body, or that will be toxic to patients.
The researchers recently tested SmartCADD on HIV. The tool created and searched through a database of 800 million chemical compounds and found that 10 million might work as HIV drugs. Then, it used its filters to both identify already approved drugs, and to suggest some new candidates that might work even better.
Now, the SMU team is working to apply the tool to an aggressive and
fast-growing type of lung cancer. The drugs on the market have too many severe side effects, Kraka explained.
The team has also created a library with highly accurate chemical information for almost 165,000 molecules, which covers nearly 90% of druggable space.
Kraka said she hopes that researchers who don’t have access to computational resources will use the team’s library and SmartCADD to assist with their own projects. The next version of SmartCADD will include the library and corresponding AI that will help speed up the tool’s filtering system without the need for expensive calculations.
“The end goal is that these filters end up becoming useful,” Clark said, “and can dramatically reduce the time to find treatments and cures for disease.”
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LEFT TO RIGHT: Elfi Kraka and Corey Clark. COURTESY SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY, KIM LEESON AND JEFFREY MCWHORTER
