Walk through Mountain Lakes High School’s side doors by its welcoming “ML” mosaic, take an immediate right, and you will be greeted by flashy sports trophies lined up neatly in glass cases. Mountain Lakes High School is well-known for its students’ accomplishments in various athletic fields. However, with such an emphasis on sports, it is sometimes hard to notice that MLHS students are very high achieving in STEM as well.
Walk into the main lobby and take a left, and there is glass case containing plaques awarded to past Mountain Lakes scholars who have achieved significant accomplishments in competitions like the Math League, New Jersey Science League, and even the prestigious national Regeneron Science Talent Search (formerly known as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search). Such awards highlight Mountain Lakes High School’s proud presence in areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Even though these high rankings in STEM-related events are not displayed as prominently as athletic achievements, the awards are evidence that Mountain Lakes students are not only great athletes but successful STEM scholars as well. The MLHS STEM community is currently strong and has the potential to expand.
STEM’s Past Predicament
Two dominant constraints have historically served as obstacles to Mountain Lakes High School’s success in STEM fields. The most obvious constraint is Mountain Lakes’ relatively small size. Students and faculty in Mountain Lakes High School have indeed been dedicated, but there were simply not enough of them to sustain multiple large STEM programs. With so few members in the STEM community, it has been difficult for the different programs to grow. Occasionally an outstanding student comes along, but it is hard to maintain a strong STEM legacy without a community of considerable size. With small size comes the second constraint: lack of diversity. Most small schools tend to have this problem. For Mountain Lakes, in particular, many students share a love for athletics rooted in tradition, so the school has dedicated resources to the school’s various athletic programs. STEM students find little room for themselves to grow their interests.
So how can Mountain Lakes High School become more involved in STEM? The answer lies in student enthusiasm. Look at high-achieving New Jersey public schools, such as Millburn High School and Ridge High School. These schools have a very large body of scientifically-oriented students and a multitude of opportunities both in-curriculum and in extracurricular activities. Mountain Lakes High School’s STEM environment is relatively weak in comparison. When students in Mountain Lakes are passionate about STEM, they will go to great lengths to create such opportunities for themselves as well as other students. In fact, some already have.
STEM’s Progress in MLHS
One of the most significant changes at MLHS is the addition of the Biotechnology Academy. This academy is part of the Morris County Vocational School District, a technology high school in Morris County with a multitude of different academies, from healthcare to veterinary studies. Hosted at MLHS, the first class of Biotech students is comprised of fifteen current sophomores from Mountain Lakes and other districts who will graduate in 2021. They take most of their classes with the rest of the Mountain Lakes students but have a few classes each year designated for Biotech students specifically. They include topics like lab design, microbiology, and genetics. Currently, they are taught by a new teacher, Mr. Carl Blanchard.
The Biotechnology students are evidence of the growing presence of STEM. They are involved in MLHS clubs and sports and are very much a part of the MLHS community. By bringing STEM talent into the high school, the Biotechnology Academy helps to inspire Mountain Lakes students.
For example, for the Biotech students, the school year is culminating in a research project that took over two months from design to completion. Students researched everything from the growth of plants under different light conditions to the efficacy of natural remedies at killing bacteria. After weeks of intensive experimentation and data collection, the results were analyzed and written up into an authentic research paper. Research of this kind is hard to find elsewhere in MLHS. The papers are less technically intensive than papers from big journals like Nature and Science, yet authentic nonetheless. They serve as an easy-to-understand introduction to the world of research. This opportunity is hard to find for high school students.
Another of MLHS’s new programs is the formation of a Robotics team. Founded recently by a student who graduated from MLHS in 2018 and directed by physics teacher Mr. Merritt, the MLHS Robotics Club currently has diligent students in two teams, one of which has advanced to state-level tournaments. The club faces a shortage of materials and student interest. However, with a supportive environment, strong leadership, and an increasing amount of middle school students involved in clubs related to robotics, the MLHS Robotics Club’s scope is more than likely to grow in the future.
An even more recent club has even taken root in Mountain Lakes High School just this year. MLHS’s newly established Science Olympiad team, founded by current sophomore Frances Lai and led by biology teacher Mr. Szot, was initiated with a late start but attained student interest and faculty support quickly. After competing at NJIT in January, the team brought home three second-place medals, one fifth-place medal, and an overall ranking of thirteenth out of twenty-two teams. In short, for its first year and its shaky start, the MLHS Science Olympiad Team performed extremely well. With one year of experience under its belt, the team is sure to accomplish even more next year.
STEM’s increasing presence has recently been felt in the school curriculum as well. This year, some students took the Local Chemistry Olympiad Exam, which has not been administered at MLHS in many years. The exam offers students the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in chemistry and qualify to national-level tests and beyond. Although no student this year advanced to the national level, there was much enthusiasm surrounding the Chemistry Olympiad exam, as witnessed by the twenty-five students from all four grades who participated. To give a general idea of the upper spectrum of scores, Eric Lee (’22) achieved one of the highest ranks with a score of thirty-six out of sixty possible points. The qualifying score for moving on to the next level is usually around forty-three points out of sixty. This year was something of a test run; now that we know what the test is like chemistry teachers can better prepare their students. In the future, students will continue to take the Chemistry Olympiad test and perform even better.
Meanwhile, the Math Department is facing a curricular issue. Mr. Ayhan, a new teacher, teaches AP BC Calculus and AP Physics C. He has planned to open a new Abstract and Linear Algebra course, and the prerequisite is Honors Algebra II for now. Some students who take advanced math courses early find themselves with a gap in their schedule instead of a math class for senior year, simply because they have taken all the high-level math courses already. This new course would serve to fill this gap. In addition, it is also an option as a co-requisite to calculus for students who are interested in mathematics. The content offered is at the college level. However, the class may or may not run this coming year depending on student interest and administrative issues.
Math competition is also prominent at MLHS. Every year, the AMC (American Math Competition) test is administered. This year we saw freshman Maxwell Lin qualify for the AIME (American Invitational Math Examination) by scoring exceptionally high on the AMC. In addition, six six-question Math League tests are administered throughout the year.
What do all of these have in common? Of course, they all rely on student participation. Mountain Lakes High School has clearly shown strong student enthusiasm already, and with the help of a supportive faculty will continue to foster a strong STEM community.
Future of STEM in MLHS
MLHS STEM programs, besides being built on a foundation of positive student energy, rely on the role of faculty. Ultimately, a teacher is needed in order to establish a club. The endorsement is both fiscal and administrative. In other words, STEM programs need money to buy materials and staff to serve as leaders. The MLHS robotics club, for example, is lacking in materials. To solve this problem, MLHS needs to find means by which it can increase its budget allocated to STEM programs. Students may be part of the solution as well by participating in activities such as fundraisers to sustain their STEM activities. With a more generous budget, resource-demanding STEM extracurriculars such as robotics and Science Olympiad can be maintained, and new programs like the National Science Bowl and New Jersey Science League can be sponsored.
With the administration of the Chemistry Olympiad test this year comes the possibility of new Olympiad tests. In particular, the Physics Olympiad test and the Biology Olympiad tests are the most feasible. Mr. Ayhan has a passion for physics and hopes to instruct his students so that they can advance to the next level of the Physics Olympiad. Interest in biology has always been prominent at MLHS, with many students taking AP Biology (taught in the past by the beloved Mrs. Fuller and now taught by Mr. Scancarella). With the addition of the Biotechnology Academy and the historical interest in biology, it makes sense that the Biology Olympiad should be administered.
MLHS has come a long way in STEM and will continue to succeed with the support of the students and the faculty. At the same time, the arts and humanities are also important to many students at the high school. In the same way that STEM has become and continues to be successful, fields like the humanities and arts can also flourish with student passion and faculty support.
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