West High Biology
Real-World Implementations
Recent Projects
The Iowa Heartlanders invited West High Biology to feature at their community engagement event during their game with the Bloomington Bison on Sunday, December 1, 2024 at the Xtream Arena in Coralville, IA.
We set up our interactive booth, and brought the “Exploring Life—One Cell at a Time!” exhibit to the big game!
West COmposting Initiative
West High Biology member Sadie Frisvold received the 2022 Witinok Endowed Advancing Science Education Award, which included an $800 grant to implement a composting program at West High School.
In 2023, West High Biology received an additional $500 Youth Climate Action Grant from the Iowa City government for additional materials needed to kickstart the program.
Resources purchased using these grants allowed West High to officially begin composting food waste from school lunches. Instead of ending up in landfills, this organic material is now used to create eco-friendly natural fertilizer.
Our work was highlighted by our school’s newspaper, the West Side Story, in their article “West High Goes Green.”
BIOLYMPIAD PREP COURSE
From July to August 2023, West High Biology member Amit Bhatt served as the lead content developer for a free-to-the-public Summer Biolympiad Prep Course in partnership with the Iowa City Math Circle.
Amit created hundreds of slides of original content and taught the course in response to local interest generated by West High Biology’s activities in the previous academic year.
Motivated middle and high school students met at the Coralville and Iowa City Public Libraries for weekly sessions, where they began preparing for the USA Biolympiad (USABO) Open Exam. Additional areas of focus included preparation for advanced life sciences courses in high school as well as information about future career prospects relating to this area of study.
Best of West