Schools Rule: Williamston students excelling in stem subjects

WILLIAMSTON, Mich. (WILX) - Teenagers at Williamston High School are making waves in the world of research. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics topics, Williamston High School junior Noah Dunkel is interested in learning more about.

“I personally enjoy the stem field and pretty much anything to do with it,” said Dunckel. “That’s kind of what’s shaped my path so far this year.” Lucky for students like Dunckel, Williamston High School offers a student-driven research class for juniors and seniors in the math and science academy.

“It opened up a lot of new areas of science that I had never heard of before.” Morgan Harkema, a junior at Williamston High School. Director Of The Math and Science Academy Joe Rasmus has been teaching the course for the past 8 years and has seen many success stories.

“We’ve had probably I would guess somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 students have their research published,” said Rasmus. Rasmus said the program helps students prepare for college and future jobs. “Going through this process of original research and they get to plan and execute and see what works and what does not work and have to figure out how to alter these things to get it to how they think it should work in the end,” said Rasmus. Student Chloe Parsons said this program has bettered her problem-solving skills.

“It’s definitely challenging and we’re just learning as we go and things aren’t working, they are working. It’s just really fun to experience this,” said Parsons. An experience, Parsons and her peers will continue to grow from.

Students apply for the math and science academy program in eighth grade. They learn the ins and outs of all things math and science throughout all four years of high school.

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