26 Apr 2023

NHD Grants Help Students to Compete at Highest Level

On a Thursday evening in early March, an audience gathered at the New York Historical Society to celebrate the 50th anniversary of National History Day. Famous historians, documentary filmmakers, and Historical Society executives were in attendance as the host of History Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum, Don Wildman introduced the main attraction – Bronxville students Leo Nevezhin, Katherine Gunduz, and Anne Petrillo. The students were exclusively invited, along with their teachers Dana Landesman and Christina Reidel, to present last year’s national winning group exhibition project: Chernobyl Disaster: How Diplomatic Pressure Pushed the Soviet Union to Mitigate the Disaster and Created International Debate on Nuclear Energy. “It was extraordinary to see Leo, Katherine and Anne so eloquently field questions from the history channel host and audience members,” said Ms. Reidel. “As their former ninth grade teacher, I took great joy in seeing their knowledge, skills and maturity grow over time. It was wonderful to see that student history research could reach the caliber that was exhibited through Leo, Katherine, and Anne’s project.”

The National History Day (NHD) Competition has been a part of Bronxville High School for eight years. The program has been led by Ms. Landesman and Ms. Reidel, and it’s a highlight for students and teachers alike. Projects led by the students themselves offer an opportunity for deeper understanding through extensive research and creative presentations of their claims in a diverse range of formats – exhibitions, documentaries, performances, research papers, or websites. Through multiple grants from the Bronxville School Foundation, professional specialists in these areas have visited the school and worked with students to improve the quality of their projects and enable them to compete at the highest level.

“Through the process of working on my project, I learned how to think and organize information in a creative way,” said Leo. “Understanding the different perspectives through multiple sources, including newly released research around the anniversary of Chernobyl, I discovered it to be a great historical example of how collaboration between nations can solve big world problems.”

The NHD program is built into the ninth and tenth grade social studies program at Bronxville High School. And this year, Bronxville had 34 of its high school students and, for the first time, five eighth grade students who won at the National History Day Regional competition in West Nyack on March 25th. They are expected to revise and improve their projects using evaluations from their judges to prepare for the New York State Competition at SUNY-Oneonta on April 24th. “My eighth graders voluntarily entered projects into the regional competition. Through the NHD work some students were able to pursue their passions, photography, military technology, running/film making respectively. One student and her family took a trip to the Eastman Kodak museum in Rochester to explore the archival material on her topic,” said Ms. Reidel.

“The accomplishments of our students are nothing short of astonishing. The NHD program aligns with many of our school’s beliefs and values in education, as outlined in The Bronxville Promise, along with the Innovative Designs for Education (IDE) work we, as educators, have been doing on a district level over the past several years,” said Ms. Landesman. “NHD projects lean on executive functioning, time-management and organizational skills that are critical to student empowerment, success, and leadership in school and beyond.” 

To that end, upperclassmen have parlayed their NHD experience into an opportunity to mentor other students by helping them with their projects as they prepare for upcoming competitions. One such student, Leo Nevezhin, has taken the knowledge gained from his NHD successes to invite a larger conversation that will take place in Bronxville School’s auditorium on June 10th at the first-ever TEDx Bronxville HS event. Leading a team of 20 Bronxville High School students, Leo is tapping into creative thinking and task-oriented organization to harness the voices from the Bronxville community, school, and experts from the greater metropolitan area. 

“Our theme for TEDx Bronxville HS is ‘Movement is Everywhere’. I was inspired by the nearby Bronx River and felt it was important to have a local connection that complements the broader concept of moving forward,” said Leo. “Mostly, I wanted to do this to give people a voice who don’t always have one.”

It has been a notable year for Bronxville’s history buffs and we are thrilled that Ms. Landesman has been named as a nominee for National History Day Teacher of the Year representing New York State. Nominees demonstrate a commitment to engaging students in historical learning through the innovative use of primary sources, implementation of active learning strategies to foster historical thinking skills, and participation in the NHD Contest. 

“This award recognizes the very best educators from across the nation and beyond,” said National History Day Executive Director Dr. Cathy Gorn. “These educators are leaders and innovators in the teaching of history. They engage their students with hands-on, inquiry-based learning with primary sources. I congratulate them on their well-deserved nominations.” 

The national winner will be selected by a committee of experienced teachers and historians and announced on Thursday, June 15, 2023, at the National History Day National Contest Awards Ceremony in College Park, Maryland.

“It has been an incredibly rewarding experience running this program for the past several years with Ms. Reidel. The best part is seeing students stretch and grow the skills that are so important in school and life,” said Ms. Landesman. “I am impressed by their work, year after year.”

Helena McSherryNHD Grants Help Students to Compete at Highest Level
read more

AI Grants Prepare Students for a Brave New World

It seems not long ago when the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) was some fantastical futuristic frontier where robots walked the earth alongside humans. While AI has steadily become part of our lives since Siri and Alexa entered our everyday vernacular, it is now all around us. According to a research study conducted last year by IBM - 35% of companies reported using AI in their business, and an additional 42% reported they are exploring AI. AI adoption is growing steadily, up four points from 2021. 

With an eye on a movement that is reshaping the way people live and work, Bronxville High School Principal Ann Meyer knew it was time to bring a program into the school and into the hands and minds of students. Ms. Meyer, who has been at Bronxville High School for 16 years - first as a science teacher and then as an administrator, also knew the best way to test her hypothesis was by using sample data. In this case, her high school seniors. “Artificial Intelligence is an area of growing importance with which our students will need to be familiar in order to enter the job marketplace upon their college graduation. There is great value in providing our seniors with the chance to learn about the field prior to college. Regardless of whether students continue into computer science, knowledge of the fundamentals of AI and its power in various industries will be relevant to their futures,” said Ms. Meyer.

In March of 2022, Ms. Meyer and science teachers Mr. Cornish and Mr. Geidel submitted a grant application to the Bronxville School Foundation for an AI pilot program for up to 25 students to gauge student interest and possible future curriculum ideas. Once approved by the Foundation, the plan went warp speed into action and a partnership with Inspirit AI was formed and a program in place for the fall. “This grant is a perfect case study on how The Bronxville School leverages The Foundation to fund innovative programs that help differentiate the school and prepare our students for a dynamic future. As a parent, I know we are extremely lucky to have such a strong administration and teachers that are insightful, proactive, and able to set a new standard for K-12 education,” said Brian Bodell, Bronxville School Foundation Chairperson.

Inspirit AI is an intensive program designed to guide high school students to initiate AI projects, pursue AI ventures, and prepare for college. The virtual classes are designed and taught by Stanford and MIT alumni and graduate students. With Stanford and MIT ranked amongst the top three universities for Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science degrees, this gives Bronxville’s students the incredible opportunity to learn from the brightest of the bright minds in the field.

While there are some concerns with how AI is being used in the world, with potential ethical considerations, the Inspirit AI program aims to also arm students with knowledge on how it can be used to create good in the world. Students have the opportunity to explore its potential in a diverse range of areas- such as finance, law, education, healthcare, and astronomy through the project-based program. Using data science, mathematical reasoning, creative problem solving, and ethics, the class covers four core technologies: computer vision, recommendation systems, natural language processing, and deep learning. 

Bronxville senior William Gottlieb loved the interactive nature of the Inspirit AI course. “We move past the abstract and away from hypothetical applications. There is no "this skill can be used for x, y and z". We actually do it. We are able to manipulate one of humans most powerful and versatile creations to make projects with real world impact. We used neural networks to determine if real photos of tumors were malignant. We learn what the technology buzzwords actually mean and then harness them to make versatile, usable products,” he said. William’s infatuation with computer science was first inspired by the Iron Man movie.”I wanted to be able to create my own proprietary technology systems like Stark's Jarvis,” he said, half joking. “I fell in love with actual computer science after my AP Computer Science A course I took sophomore year. Once I began procrastinating on my other homework, not to watch TV but to do my computer science work, I knew I found my fit. The jump from programming to AI was not very far for me because AI is one of the hottest areas of computer science at the moment, and the ability to make more functional products drew me in,” he added.

On the heels of the success from the pilot program, Ms. Meyer once again reached out to the Foundation with an off-cycle grant proposal for an ‘AI Boot Camp’. This time, the classes will be in person and run for two weeks at Bronxville High School for Senior Shadowing at the end of May. Columbia University graduate students will serve as their instructors. In addition, a two-week summer camp in which students sign up directly through Inspirit AI, will take place at The Bronxville School. 

Looking ahead to the 2023-2024 school year, Ms. Meyer has applied for a grant that seeks to provide the current virtual course again next year in its current structure, as well as an advanced course for students who have completed the introduction course or participated in the summer camp offered through Inspirit AI. To borrow from the idiom that was first written in the year 1562- no time like the present: There's no time like the present to be prescient; especially when it comes to preparing Bronxville students for a world that awaits their knowledge.

Photo courtesy of the Bronxville School Foundation.

 
Helena McSherryAI Grants Prepare Students for a Brave New World
read more