Grade 6 Language Classes Team Up with Engineering

Dr. Thomas Heverin (P '26, Trustee), Professor at Drexel University and Cybersecurity Systems Engineer, and three 8th graders - Eve Cohen ’27 (left), Elsa Deitz ’27 and Jordana Wilkes ’27 – wrote a paper together titled “Development and Analysis of a ReconnaissanceTechnique Knowledge Graph” and submitted it for the International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security. The paper was accepted and will be published later this spring. Eve, Elsa and Jordana were contributors to the paper and assisted in developing ideas surrounding the topic, as well as testing some of the strategies discussed in the paper. In addition, Eve and Elsa, along with Dr. Heverin found a vulnerability in electronic key-box software. Across bug bounty programs, they found that they could replicate the vulnerability and access highly confidential data (which they reported). They then submitted the vulnerability to the National Vulnerability Database.

This year, 6th grade Spanish and French teamed up with Engineering to create a new interdisciplinary project. In their respective language classes, 6th graders worked with partners to research and present on famous monuments and landmarks (buildings, statues, ancient ruins, etc.) in Spanish- and Frenchspeaking countries. In their Engineering class, students learned about architecture more broadly and built scale models of their monuments. The project’s goal was to get students thinking about cultural history and to appreciate and showcase the diversity of Spanish- and French-speaking countries. Since Engineering was studying architecture and different styles and methods of building, this presented a unique and organic opportunity to have students connect across disciplines. Given the diversity of the Spanish- and Frenchspeaking world, the landmarks chosen represented a wide array of architectural styles, time periods and cultures. In Engineering class, students spent time fabricating their architectural wonder out of various materials including wood, clay and cardboard.

Zehra Wamiq, who grew up in Pakistan but has been a long-time resident of the Philadelphia area, came to Baldwin to speak to Grade 7 students. The girls read A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi, which is set in Pakistan. Zehra is a founding member of the Delaware Valley Speakers Bureau, and she discussed what it's like to be a girl in Pakistan, how American girls can support the girls in Pakistan and some of the actions Pakistanis are taking to address climate change.

Yuru Lin ’23 (left) was named a top 300 Scholar in the 82nd Regeneron Science Talent Search — a prestigious science and mathematics competition for high school seniors. Yuru received a cash prize and Baldwin received a matching gift to use toward STEMrelated activities. Betti Pang ’23 was honored with an Excellence in Science award by the Delaware Valley Science Council. Betti completed a rigorous application and participated in interviews with scientists.

Megan Chan ’24 and Olivia Stephan ’24, Honors Biology students, visited the Grade 4 Science class as part of their biodiversity and conservation project, which is focused on bringing awareness to the endangerment of green sea turtles. Megan and Olivia presented about environmental dangers to green sea turtles, such as plastics. The 4th graders then brainstormed possible solutions and took part in an activity that helped them understand the small percentage of sea turtles that survive when faced with environmental dangers.

Baldwin’s Chemistry classes explored the light spectrum through seeing visible electromagnetic radiation. Some light, like white light, is composed of every color in the rainbow in a continuous spectrum. Different chemicals emit various wavelengths of energy, called photons, when they absorb and release energy. Students were able to view these photons during their flame test lab as the flame acted as the energy source and excited the electrons in the atoms of metallic ions.

Baldwin is proud to announce that nearly one-third of its senior class has been recognized by the National Merit® Scholarship Program.

Eight Baldwin students were named Finalists: Julie

Brose, Christina Cai, Batya Kaplan, Eugenia Li, Yuru Lin, Betti Pang, Makenna Walko and Emily Zhang; seven students were named Commended Students: Wynne Conger, Sahsa Deringer, Rachel Gopalani, Eri Maeda, Sophia Ran, Lydia Snyder and Scarlet Xing; and Ryan Shelton was honored with a National African American Recognition Award and Aleida Skogland was honored with a National Hispanic Recognition Award.

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon visited the Upper School Soviet Union elective class to discuss her research and experiences as a woman of color in Slavic studies. Kimberly is a historian of Russia, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and is a second-year doctoral student earning her PhD in History at the University of Pennsylvania. Experience, identity, subjectivity, nationality policy and the constructions of race and nation define the core of her work. Kimberly’s dissertation project is an exploration of the form, function and understandings of race in the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic through the experiences of African Americans and Africans.

Grade 9 - 10 Honors

Geometry students were partnered with 1st graders to create math beads. Together, they strung the beads to create a chain of 10 blue and 10 gray beads. Many of the older students were 1st graders in the same room they visited and recalled their years in the Lower School with their new buddies. Math beads are a hands-on approach for counting, adding, subtracting, multiplication and division. This visual and kinesthetic tool aids all learners while practicing number sense and math facts.