Williston Scholars – from science to performing arts – provide students with opportunities to enrich their academic experience through an innovative and new approach to learning.

The Williston Scholars program is a trimester-long, college-style course designed for students to pursue independent study. Offered in each department, it allows students to explore a subject that they are passionate about in any field of interest. For example, first-trimester Math Scholars included Carter Cleary’s presentation on “Political Ads in a Post-Privacy World: Can You Be Manipulated Based on Your Geography?” and Chris Anderson’s project on “A Graph Theory Based Fingerprint Matching Style.”

Established in 2011, the program has become a capstone of academic exploration at Williston. Over the years, it has supported more than 640 student projects guided by faculty mentorships, spanning a wide range of disciplines and interests.

Scholars classes encourage students to merge diverse fields, creating projects that highlight their passions. Ashley Barnes, a senior, explored how women’s fashion evolved throughout history for her History Scholars project during the first trimester. She enjoyed how students could take the initiative with their projects.

“I liked how it was up to you to get your work done,” she said.

Ashley’s project was called “Fashion and Gender Roles.”

Alyssa Matricciani, a senior, took Science Scholars in the first trimester to explore and auditory disorder called Misophonia. Alyssa also enjoyed how the course allowed her to dive into the topic in ways that traditional courses could not.

“I like the freedom of it. I could focus on whatever I wanted and go in any direction I wanted, which was really cool,” she said. “For me, I knew I wanted to do this auditory disorder, so getting to focus on different parts of it that I found interesting rather than listening to what the teacher finds interesting was the most fun part for me.”

Alyssa’s project was called “Sounds That Sting: Understanding Misophonia.”

Teachers also find the program rewarding. Mike Mailloux, a math teacher, enjoys teaching Math Scholars as he gets to see how students combine creativity with mathematical concepts.

“The best part about teaching scholar classes is seeing the creativity and interests that students can bring together to create something unique of their own that you’re not ever going to really see in a regular math class,” he said.

He finds it “really neat to see” students’ creativity and their mathematical knowledge merge into one project.

Students can gain invaluable experience in conducting independent research. Mailloux thinks this aspect prepares students for challenges they may face in college and beyond.

“Often in high school, particularly, or even in a lot of your intro college classes, you’re just being walked through everything whereas a very independent process, so learning how to work on your own when somebody’s not telling you what to do next is not a skill that comes easy to everyone,” he said.

Mailloux said Scholars provides “a much lower stakes place to explore that in high school than at the first time you’re doing it is in your senior year of college when you’re trying to figure out what you’re going to do with your life,” he said.

As Mailloux said, while freedom of the program is exciting, it also presents challenges. Ashley faced a challenge with time management for her project. She admitted to waiting “until the last minute,” which made the end of the trimester particularly challenging for her.

Jack Berrien, a senior who took Science Scholars, found it challenging to access the materials needed.

“The biggest challenge I faced was gathering materials that were necessary to help produce the hologram, but cheap enough that I could buy them with a limited budget,” he said.

Jack’s project was investigating the usefulness and feasibility of constructing a 3D hologram. He gathered specific materials from across the world, including holographic films from Lithuania.

“Often, I had to improvise and replace parts with similar ones, and as there are very few locations that manufacture holographic components, I gathered materials from around the world,” he said. “Some materials, like the holographic film, took weeks to get here, and I had to wait until everything had arrived before testing the final hologram, which made troubleshooting and error analysis more difficult, as I had minimal time.”

Jack’s project was called “Holograms at Home.”

However, overcoming these obstacles can lead to invaluable growth. Jack learned valuable lessons despite the challenges.

“Although I was ultimately unsuccessful in producing a hologram, I learned a lot about the science of optics and the challenges of the experimental process,” he said.

Williston Scholars are not just limited to academic subjects. There are Performing Arts Scholars and Visual Arts Scholars offered as well.

Aster Carlstrom, a senior, took Performing Arts Scholars during his junior year and wrote a one-act play centralized about how the trauma of sexual assault can affect not only one person but also their friends. The course offered him the opportunity to pursue his passion for theater while providing him with time to balance with his other academic responsibilities.

“I wanted the space and time to be able to pursue this kind of artistic project because playwriting takes up a lot of time, and it is hard to do on top of schoolwork if it’s just a hobby and not for a specific class like scholars,” he said.

Aster, whose project was called “Broken Symmetry: A One-Act Play,” is going to New York University to study theater next year.