Each trimester at Williston, juniors and seniors can elect to take part in our Williston Scholars program. A college-model course that introduces students to the rigors of directed independent study, the Scholars program enables students to learn about a topic they’re interested in at a deeper level than in a normal course. Scholars projects can be completed across all departments at Williston, and during the course students will collaborate with faculty members, classmates, and experts across the globe to help guide them through the steps of the project—development, research, implementation, and, ultimately, the final presentation.

Over 650 students have taken Scholars courses since the program was introduced in 2011. For many of our Scholars, their trimester spent learning has shaped their course forward in life.

“Working on the Scholars project at Williston was a formative experience that continues to influence my studies, career, and personal interests today,” said Jeremy Dube ’24. “At its core, Empathy Engine was about building an AI that could not only respond to words but also understand and adapt to human emotion. This project gave me my first real taste of what it means to integrate AI into a system designed to help people, and it planted a seed that has grown throughout my academic and professional journey.”

For the 15th anniversary of the program, the Williston Northampton School Bulletin took a deep dive into what students have learned from their experiences, and that story can be found here. You can also learn more about the Scholars program by watching this video.

For the 2025-26 academic year, there were 36 Scholars in trimester 1. These students made their final presentations in front of faculty, friends, and family at the end of November 2025.

“Our Scholars this trimester displayed a huge range of curiosity in what they studied,” said Scholars Director Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, who also runs Williston’s theater program. “These projects showcased not only our students’ abilities to study and learn about a subject, but also how well-spoken they are in presenting their findings.”

Here is a list of which students made presentations this fall, and the name of their project. See past Scholars on our dedicated Williston Scholars page.

History

Mary Choo – The Drunk Irish: Colonialization in Ireland

Jordyn Osorio – Dependent by Design: Puerto Rico’s Struggle for Economic Sovereignty

Sepha Schumacher – Silently Screaming: The Quest of Victorian Women to be Heard

Casey Connor – Evaluating Reconstruction After the Civil War

Sadie Dripps – Fashioning Change in the 50s: How Postwar America and European Designers Redefined Women’s Fashion

Henry Sanders – American Politics and the National Endowment for the Humanities

Casey Muscato – Constructing America: Identity Through Food and Immigration

Lauren Martinez – Cancel Culture: A New Nickname for an Old Pattern

Charlie Honig – How Did We Get Here? The Origins and Evolution of Zionism

Jack Nolan – Caesar and Napoleon: Military and Society

Ashley Zhang – Tea’s Effects on Social Structure and Art Movements in Europe

Cal Hoyt – The Dot-Com Bubble

Richard Zhang – Economic and Political Grievance, Social Media, and the Nepalese Gen-Z Protests

Haruka Okuno – A repeating Political Trend in Japan

Adi Mahtani – The Effects of the Rushed 1947 Partition of India

Eden Dushekenov – How Soviet Rule Shaped Modern Kazakhstan

Chloe Raker – Beyond the Label: Processed Food in America

Richard Yu-Hwang – Pay to Win: What College Football Says About American Priorities

Will Lee – The Price of Kindness: What Really Drives Giving

Science

Catie Putt – The Menstrual Cycle and its Impact on Exercise, Recovery, and Injury Risk in Female Athletes

Kamal Sergeev – Automated Molar Conversion

Conner Graff – Caffeinated Dreams: Caffeine’s Effect on Athletes’ Sleep and Recovery

Zoe Simon – The Contributions of Traditional Medicine to Modern Medicine

Douglas Warner – Improving our Eyesight: The Concepts and Creation of Lenses

Peter Suranunt – Electro-vapor: Making Water from Air

Alex Landon – The Effect of Screen Time on Auditory, Visual, and Choice Reaction Time

Owen Converse – The Effects of Modern Shoes on Natural Movement

Junwon Park – Utilizing Spectral Sensors to Determine Optimal Height and Time to Measure the Fluorescence of Trees

Devin Berry Brown – Evaluating the Viability of Nuclear Batteries in the Future Energy Landscape

Lauren Counter – Beyond the Blow: The Hidden Link between Dementia and CTE

Mel McCullough – How does AI Challenge our Environment in the Midst of Climate Change?

Math

Owen Mish – Artificial Intelligence in Video Games

Maddie Helgeson – AI Fights AI: A Unique Way to Counteract Environmental Impact

Language

Francesca Gionfriddo – Todes al Microfono: A Podcast Exploring Spain’s Journey Towards Inclusive Language

Isabel Sorkin-Camacho – Recipes in Translation: A TikTok Series Bridging Ancient Spanish Recipes and my Abuela’s

Ellis von Schoeler-Ames – Myth, Not Monolith: Reimagining “Jason and Medea” from Ovid’s Perspective