Projects and Perseverance in the Pandemic

This past semester, freshmen and sophomores have been working hard on two big research projects: the I-Search and the Catalyst for Change project. The I-Search is part of the ninth grade English curriculum in which freshmen research any topic of interest. It culminates in an eight to twelve-page long research paper and a ten-minute “Hawk Talk” presentation on the topic. 

In U.S. history, tenth graders take part in the Global Online Academy’s Catalyst for Change Conference. Students research and write about a social justice issue in America, eventually creating a website that is shared with hundreds of other students and teachers around the world.

The Catalyst Conference ended in late April, and the last of the Hawk Talks finished in early May. While the pandemic has presented a lot of obstacles, it has not stopped students from some truly in-depth and thought-provoking work.

Freshman Noelle Chen’s paper Time Travel: Fictitious or Factual? was particularly “well researched and sophisticated”, according to her teacher Vylinh Nguyen. Chen was inspired to choose her topic because she has always been intrigued by science and often wondered if works of science fiction accurately portray time travel. Despite initially being nervous at the “gravity of such a huge project”, as well as facing the challenge of procrastination, Chen says that she “honestly loved the I-Search” because it gave her a chance to explore time travel and later educate her classmates on the topic. 

Another I-Search that generated interest was John Williams’ The Truth of Fake News. Williams credited the pandemic with his curiosity about misinformation because of the “numerous false narratives [that] spread throughout social media” during the pandemic. Williams says that while the pandemic slightly impacted his communication with his teachers and teaching assistants, he was able to have a very productive interview with Tim Kendall about “social media addiction and its interconnection with fake news consumption.”

Sophomore Dylan Chan, won a Citation Award for his Catalyst project on environmental racism. 

He says that both his favorite and least favorite part of the process was creating a webpage for the conference. Chan struggled with technical problems at first, but after the issues were resolved, he really enjoyed being able to create a visually appealing presentation. Chan also shared that the pandemic was an important factor in his research, as it has “put the spotlight on environmental inequities and the resulting health impacts.”

Another sophomore, Iyobosa Enabulele won an Audience Award for her presentation. Like Chan, she found that her project on how the healthcare system fails Black women was largely impacted by Covid-19. She says in addition to the pandemic exacerbating already present health issues, it has uncovered new ones as well. Enabulele believes that during a time when so many problems are coming to light, projects like the Catalyst for Change are crucial. She says that when projects “shed a spotlight on how systems continue to fail the people they promise to serve, they amplify the impact of the global reckoning that began in 2020.”