News
BUA Transit Club Lobbies MA State Senator Sal DiDomenico
On Tuesday, January 23, members of the BUA Transit Club were accompanied by chaperones Mr. Seth and Ms. Kelly on an exciting visit to the State House to enjoy a tour of the Senate and House chambers, as well as take part in an engaging and helpful discussion with State Senator and Assistant Majority Leader Sal DiDomenico about local public transportation concerns. Senator DiDomenico, representing the cities of Cambridge, Charlestown, Chelsea, and Everett, overheard numerous concerns and suggestions regarding the MBTA’s budget, reliability, and future plans. The senator was extremely impressed about how knowledgeable Transit Club members were, and encouraged all students to reach out to local representatives engaged in pushing transit infrastructure legislation; he hopes to include some of BUA students’ suggestions in his upcoming transit legislation.
What Do You Do For Fun?
As I was walking the halls recently, I passed a classroom during a free period where about a dozen students were looking up at a crossword puzzle projected on the screen. I popped in – I love crosswords too much to just walk by – and quickly discovered that I was in a new world. The students were working on a cryptic crossword puzzle, where each of the clues is a puzzle to solve – puzzles within puzzles. The whole room erupted when somebody got an answer; I didn’t contribute much, but it was fun to try it with them. After school that same day, I came across four kids playing chess on two boards side by side, with another handful of students and a teacher watching from the periphery. They explained that they were playing something called Bughouse Chess, a two-on-two version of the game where pieces taken by your partner on one board can then be placed on their partner’s board, making the game less predictable and according to the students, even more exciting.
When I was young, people used to ask me, “What do you do for fun?” I remember feeling some pressure not to talk about the books I was reading, poetry I was writing, crossword puzzles I was designing, role playing games I was into, and instead stay on the safer ground of watching movies and playing sports. I love that this is a school where working together on mind-bending wordplay or multi-dimensional chess is just part of the fun. For so many of our students, the “work” they do in the classroom – the books they read, the math problems they work on – is part of the fun too. Let the games continue!
Dora Mou ’27 Wins New York Times Essay Contest
Ninth-grader Dora Mou '27's essay, "My Two Primal Urges," was selected as one of 15 winners of the New York Times' 2nd annual Teen Tiny Memoirs contest. Teen Tiny Memoirs are 100-word narratives by teenagers about meaningful moments in their lives. Read Dora's winning essay here.
Congratulations, Dora, on your fantastic essay and this incredible accomplishment!
Research Highlight: Robbie Mulroy ’24 Explores the Role of CREB Binding Protein in Cancer
BUA senior Robbie Mulroy's thesis project has the potential to impact the future of cancer research.
For his senior thesis, Robbie '24 is investigating the role of the CREB binding protein (CBP) in cancer under the guidance of BU Biology Professor Dr. Trevor Siggers as well as BUA Biology Teacher Dr. Colleen Krivacek, who by remarkable coincidence happens to have expertise in this area. CBP is a cofactor that binds to transcription factors, which in turn bind to DNA to regulate when genes are expressed. The CREB binding protein regulates around 10,000 different genes; Robbie has been studying where and when CBP’s five binding regions bind to various transcription factors.
Inspired by his BU biology courses, Robbie was motivated to better understand the inner workings of the human body on a genetic level, and to investigate CBP’s effect on the immune system and the relationship between CBP and tumor development.
In the spring of 2023, Robbie reached out to Dr. Siggers to introduce himself and to ask if Dr. Siggers might be willing to supervise his senior thesis research. Dr. Siggers happily accepted, and Robbie spent the summer in the Siggers Lab here on campus, which is dedicated to systems biology and gene regulation in the immune system. Conducting experiments alongside undergraduate and graduate students, Robbie’s research entailed taking each of five binding domains and inserting them into lentivirus plasmid, infecting cells with that virus, and then extracting the nuclei of those cells. He then used a protein binding microarray to test binding domains with different transcription factors to see which ones bound and which did not. The experimentation process was not without challenges, and taught Robbie some important lessons about scientific methods and problem solving. Through trial and error, Robbie and his fellow researchers fine tuned their experiments, adjusting transformation timings and solution concentrations until they felt they were achieving valid, measurable results.
Robbie is now working on translating his findings into a research paper that will constitute his thesis project. Reflecting on potential broader impacts of his very technical research, Robbie explains:
“Errors in CBP regulation are linked to many types of cancer, including lung cancer, head and neck cancer, acute leukemia, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. Through interactions with other proteins and its primary histone acetylation function, CBP regulates several phases of the cell cycle. This means that overexpression of the gene that encodes CBP or mutations within the gene can cause cells to grow unpredictably. On the flip side, the underexpression of CBP has been shown to lead to apoptosis (cell death). Some cancer treatments in development are trying to downregulate CBP expression in cancer cells to kill them.”
Future cancer researchers may build on Robbie’s and Dr. Siggers’s team’s findings to further tease out the relationship between the CREB binding protein and tumor development. Robbie will present his complete research project alongside fellow seniors at BUA’s Senior Thesis Symposium in Metcalf Hall on May 13, 2024.
Transit Club on the Move: Student Transit Advocates Make Riding the T a Varsity Sport
This week, a guest column from Ilias Benmokrane '24, founder and leader of the BUA Transit Club, appeared on the Mass Streetsblog. The column recaps the club's signature Transit Races, shares why it's important for students to be educated on the public transit resources available to them, and suggests improvement for the MBTA (there are many!).
The goals of the BUA Transit Club include "instructing new students on how to use the Transit app to navigate through the city; discussing the history of transportation; and drafting proposals regarding safer and more convenient transportation to local agencies." The group even puts out a weekly newsletter with helpful information on transit closures and alternate routes!
Congratulations to Ilias and the Transit Club on the publication of their first column. Read the full article here.
BUA Launches Demystifying Independent Schools Podcast
Boston University Academy is proud to share our first foray into the world of podcasting!
The Demystifying Independent Schools Podcast debunks common misconceptions about independent schools – for example, that independent schools are not diverse, and that only the wealthy can afford an independent school education – and shares why independent schools are more affordable than many families think. On the podcast, education experts from BUA’s peer and feeder schools and our very own Head of School Chris Kolovos and Associate Head of School for Enrollment and Institutional Advancement Nastaran Hakimi discuss the value of an independent school education and why financial assistance is within reach of middle class families.
In the first episode, independent school leaders across the country discuss the value proposition of independent schools; in the second episode, financial aid experts explain why broad socioeconomic diversity is in every independent school's best interest, and offer tips and tricks for the financial aid process. Our guests on the podcast include leaders from Shady Hill School, St. Paul’s School, Beacon Academy, the Friends School of Baltimore, and the Epiphany School, as well as David Chard, Dean of BU Wheelock’s College of Education. You can visit the podcast homepage to learn more about the most common independent school myths and facts.
Hear our episodes when you listen to WBUR’s Here & Now, On Point, The Common, or Circle Round wherever you get your podcasts, or at this link: https://www.demystifyingindependentschools.com/
If you like what you hear, please share with your networks or anyone you think might be a great fit for BUA!
Research Highlight: Zach Daniel ’25 Presents Paper at Materials Research Society Conference
On Tuesday, November 28, BUA junior Zach Daniel '25 presented a paper entitled "Potential Applications of Electrically Conductive Concrete" at the Materials Research Society's conference at the Hynes Convention Center. Zach's research, which he carried out in partnership with three other students from area schools, explored special concrete that conducts electricity for de-icing roads, controlling surface temperature, and turning heat into energy.
Zach shares that, in conducting experiments for the project, "we made concrete samples with materials like carbon fibers, iron powder, and steel wool. Results showed that 5% iron powder and 15% steel wool worked well, but too much iron powder made the concrete weak.We also looked at adding materials that change from solid to liquid (PCM) to control temperature. The study found that PCM delayed temperature increase during heating. Additionally, we tried generating electricity from the heat in the concrete using a method called the Seebeck Effect. Results showed potential for using this to produce electricity. In conclusion, our research suggested that using this special concrete could be a more eco-friendly way to de-ice roads, control temperatures, and generate electricity."
Kaitlyn Tan ’26 Earns Accolades in Junior Fencing World Cup
Kaitlyn Tan '26 recently competed in her first Junior World Cup fencing meet in Lima, Peru, earning 6th place in the Cadet Foil event as the youngest amongst the top eight finishers. The Junior’s World Cup is a competition for women’s fencers who are 19 years old and younger. Last week, she also competed in another international Cadet competition in Germany, earning a bronze medal out of 236 international fencers aged 17 and under. Kudos, Kaitlyn, on these incredible accomplishments!
Real Audiences
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of attending BUA’s annual Concerto Competition. Seven students performed solo pieces with piano accompaniment. Works ranged from Vivaldi, Popper, Glazunov, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Fauré, and Mozart. Our student soloists played the recorder, cello, piano, violin, and flute in front of several dozen friends, faculty, and family members. The performances were stunning; the students’ virtuosity evidenced years of practice, and I love that they chose – entirely voluntarily – to share their talents with this audience. The winner of the competition will perform the piece again, this time accompanied by the full BUA orchestra at our Spring Concert on May 3.
There is real power in having students share their work with an audience. Knowing that somebody else will see, hear, appreciate, and learn from your work makes school assignments more than intellectually enriching exercises; they become purposeful in a different way. Our music and theater programs are built around chances for performance, but they are not alone. The hallways around BUA are graced by student visual art. Our creative writers submit their work not just to BUA’s literary magazine, but increasingly to outside journals. History teachers are working with students to submit analytical writing to journals and to offer poster sessions of their research this spring. Our 9th graders in biology have a poster session coming up too, and more than a handful of our older students have had co-authored scientific papers published in their names. Perhaps the best known example is the senior thesis. Every year, in addition to their written work or artistic creations, our seniors present to an audience of peers and family members; they have to think about how to translate sometimes complex topics into language a lay audience can understand and engage with – a critical skill. Thinking about an audience for your work and communicating to that group adds a valuable layer to our students’ learning, and I’m grateful for our teachers’ work to help students find those outlets.
Gratitude for our Faculty and Staff
With Thanksgiving a few days away, I want to pause to give thanks for the remarkable teachers and staff here at BUA. Every day I am struck by their contagious passion for their subjects; their pedagogical skill and creativity; their work ethic and desire to improve; and, most of all, how well they know these students and how deeply they care for them. These professionals have chosen this path – many having foregone more lucrative careers and ones that carry more status in a society that undervalues educators – because working with young people is a calling. There is tremendous fulfillment, joy, and purpose in helping guide and empower young people at this critical stage in their development. Our faculty and staff are the heart of the school, and I am deeply grateful for them.
My hope this holiday season is that you find a moment to say thank you to a teacher or mentor who made a difference in your life or in your family’s life. One of the mysteries of this profession is that teachers are often not aware of the impact they have. The reward is in the work itself. But it means the world to a teacher to hear that something they did – an encouraging remark in class, a comment in the margin of a paper, a poem they shared, their excitement over a geometry proof, or simply the act of listening with an open heart – mattered.
Wishing you and your families a happy Thanksgiving.