2026 STEM Symposium Celebrates a Landmark Year for Student Research

Tuesday, April 14 marked an important milestone for Indian Creek STEM students, as they shared their work at the 2026 STEM Symposium. From the Creek Lab to the Becker Center Auditorium to the Grindrod Atrium, families, faculty, and peers moved through spaces alive with thoughtful questions, lively demonstrations, and conversations shaped by months, and often years, of dedicated work.

 

What set this year’s presentations apart was not just the range of topics, but the depth of the work. With one of the largest senior STEM cohorts in school history, students took on ambitious, fully realized projects that often pushed beyond the boundaries of a traditional high school experience. More than sharing outcomes, they invited us into their process, how their ideas developed, where they encountered challenges, how the use of AI tools was incorporated into their work, and what they learned along the way.

 

Senior thesis presentations remain the cornerstone of the program, and this year’s group set a high bar. Each student presented and defended a multi-year research project, demonstrating not only subject mastery but the ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity and confidence.

 

Congratulations to these Class of 2026 Senior STEM Thesis presenters:

 

The Class of 2027 showed that their projects are following in these lofty footprints through their Junior Research presentations. Projects of note included:

Ninth and tenth grade students shared early-stage research through a poster session that reflected strong habits of inquiry across the board. Ninth graders focused on building foundational research skills, while sophomores pushed further, incorporating interactive elements and live demonstrations that invited visitors into their process.

 

Across every grade level, a common thread emerged from this year’s symposium: students taking on meaningful questions and following them with purpose. Whether exploring environmental sustainability, public health, engineering design, or human behavior, their work reflects both intellectual curiosity and a growing sense of responsibility to the world around them.