Started in 2010, the Williston Scholars program is a college-model course that introduces students to the rigors of directed independent study in a highly personalized way. A trimester-long course, the program allows juniors and seniors to deeply engage with a topic they are passionate about in any area of study.
Each year, close to 60 students pursue Scholars projects and from those students, a group are named Scholars with Distinction at our end-of-year academic awards ceremony. For the 2025-26 school year, 16 students earned the Scholar with Distinction honor across six subjects, including history, English, language, science, performing arts, visual arts.
“Williston Scholars pursue projects in areas of personal interest—exploring the impact of sports injuries on students, depicting their artistic journey through a dance solo, discussing gender politics in a podcast,” said Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, the coordinator for Williston Scholars. “The projects are deep dives into the stories that matter to the next generation of thinkers and creators. Having such a close connection with the topic motivates many of the Scholars to render outstanding projects that provide new insights to their peers and teachers alike.”
Here is a list of the 16 Scholars, and a short description of each of their projects.
Language
Scholar: Francesca Gionfriddo ’26
Title: Todes al Micrófono: A Podcast Exploring Spain’s Journey Towards Inclusive Language
Description: For Francesca’s project, she created a research and interview-based language podcast series exploring the history, evolution, and use of—or resistance to use of—inclusive language in Spain and the ramifications.
History
Scholar: Sepha Schumacher ’26
Title: Silently Screaming: The Quest of Victorian Women to Be Heard
Description: Sepha’s paper seeks to challenge the common stereotype of Victorian women as meek, fragile, silent and wholly subservient figures by examining how they pushed back against Victorian ideals of smallness and diminutiveness in “quiet” ways—specifically literature, spiritualism and art.
Scholar: Lauren Martinez ’26
Title: Cancel Culture: A New Nickname for an Old Pattern
Description: Lauren’s paper connects similarities between the cases of the Salem Witch Trials, the Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton affair, and the Amber Heard versus Johnny Depp trial.
Scholar: Sadie Dripps ’26
Title: Fashioning Change in the 50s: How Postwar America and European Designers Redefined Women’s Fashion
Description: Sadie’s study of women’s fashion in the 1950s unpacked the so-called golden age of couture, centering women’s choices about what to wear in this Cold War context.
Scholar: Henry Sanders ’26
Title: American Politics and the National Endowment for the Humanities
Description: Henry investigated the relationship between politics and culture as he studied the history of the National Endowment for the Humanities. With research into several decades of NEH projects, his essay shows how partisan ideas about which projects get government funding actually reveal contests over what values American culture can reflect and produce.
Scholar: Haruka Okuno ’26
Title: A Repeating Political Trend in Japan
Description: Haruka tackled questions of nationalism and xenophobia as she traced the rise of Sanseito, a conservative right-wing party in Japan. Drawing upon deep research, she not only sketched the long history of isolationist trends in Japan but also placed this party’s emergence in a wider global context in the early twenty-first century.
Science
Scholar: Alex Landon ’26
Title: The Effect of Screen Time on Auditory, Visual, and Choice Reaction Time
Description: Alex investigated the relationship between screen time and reaction time. Participants in his experiments first completed a series of reaction time tests without prior screen time to establish a baseline for each individual. They were then asked to watch videos on their devices before completing the same reaction time tests again.
Scholar: Zoe Simon ’26
Title: The Contributions of Traditional Medicine to Modern Medicine
Description: Zoe took a deep dive into traditional medicines, exploring how natural remedies and plant-based treatments have influenced the development of many modern pharmaceuticals. She researched the scientific discoveries that transformed traditional healing practices into evidence-based medicines and examined the role of ethnopharmacology in identifying promising therapeutic compounds.
Scholar: Kat Martini ’26
Title: Seeing the Genome Fold: AFM Imaging of DNA Structure and Antiviral Potential
Description: Kat explored the three-dimensional structure of DNA using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), a powerful imaging technique capable of visualizing molecules at the nanoscale. Her research examined how DNA folds and organizes itself.
Scholar: Sarah Martini ’26
Title: Mercury on the Mind
Description: Sarah investigated mercury contamination in freshwater ecosystems and its connection to Minamata disease, a neurological disorder caused by mercury poisoning. The research explored how mercury enters aquatic food webs and accumulates in fish through the process of biomagnification.
Scholar: Avery Blumberg ’27
Title: Ancient Hair Sutures Reimagined for Infection Detection
Description: Avery explored the potential of using human hair as a low-cost, accessible suture material for use in underdeveloped regions where medical resources may be limited. The research investigated techniques for preparing and testing hair as an alternative to traditional sutures while considering its strength, flexibility, and practicality.
Performing Arts
Scholar: River Hambleton ’27
Title: Designing Neverland
Description: River designed sets for the musical Finding Neverland, based on J.M. Barrie’s writing of his timeless classic Peter Pan. River learned to use Sketch Up, an industry-standard software for design and architecture renderings, to create images of what the scenic design for specific numbers in the musical would look like.
Scholar: Sarah Lucas ’27
Title: The Audition: A Ten-Minute Musical
Description: Sarah wrote a one-person jukebox musical about a high school student going into a college audition for a performing arts program. As the student performs a song for her audition, she freezes—her anxiety overtakes her. We then hear a soliloquy in which she processes the pressure she feels from parental and societal expectations.
Visual Arts
Scholar: Haruka Okuno ’26
Title: Where Time Does Not Blink
Description: Haruka undertook an ambitious large-scale illustration/painting of elements from Japanese culture, ranging from religious images to architectural symbols using mixed media. In her artist’s statement, she notes, “My piece, ‘Where Time Does Not Blink’, is inspired by a trip I took last spring. For the first time, I traveled alone to Kyoto, an ancient city in Japan. During my visit, I entered a temple that has stood for centuries. When I stepped inside and looked at the statue of Buddha, the first thought that came to my mind was: What have these eyes seen before?”
English
Scholar: Evan Sood ’26
Title: Who I Am
Description: Inspired by Pablo Neruda’s Heights of Macchu Picchu, Even created a collection of personal writing chronicling themes of coming of age, identity, family, past and present.
Scholar: Dannielle Lu ’27
Title: Elsewhere, Briefly
Description: Danielle created a story collection focused on the overlooked bits of human connection, the power of observation, and the fragility of relationships.
Scholar: Max Gordon ’26
Title: American Boy: A Poetry and Short Story Collection
Description: Max’s collection mixed nonfiction and fictional events from childhood to capture the ephemeral nature of youth, exploring themes of growing up, coping with loss and the irreversible passage of time.