Last night, we celebrated Upper School Science Night, a thoughtful and expansive presentation of student inquiry and scientific exploration. What began years ago as an opportunity to highlight 9th-grade learning has since grown into a full celebration of scientific thinking, featuring work from students in grades 9 through 11 and our Advanced Science Research elective. The event highlighted the depth of our students’ curiosity, creativity, and commitment to thinking like scientists, as well as the equipment and facilities that help make it all possible. 

Across both floors of the Drinkward Center, spilling into the language wing and the greenhouse, students proudly shared their inquiry projects, each one representing a unique and unpredictable journey. These projects weren’t about right answers or polished final products. They were, as Science Department Chair Robin O’Hara reminded us in her opening remarks, about process: about students asking, testing, revising, and discovering. About embracing the moments when things didn’t go according to plan. 

Students invited us into their learning through posters and thoughtful conversations about what they’ve learned so far and what they don’t know—yet. This spirit of iterative learning was evident everywhere: in the PRISM Lab, where students explained their use of high-level instrumentation like our new gas chromatograph (made possible by the generosity of the Clark family); in the greenhouse, where the aquaponics system buzzed with energy and sixteen splashing tilapia; and in the Social Innovation and Process Design & Engineering class students’ pesto sale, where basil grown in our aquaponics system was transformed into jars of “Pesto for Good” to benefit Neighborhood House.

Robin also reminded us of the central question that animates scientific inquiry and our science program at OES: How do you know? It’s a question that, as Adam Grant writes in Think Again, opens the door to deeper thinking, sparking curiosity and challenging assumptions. It’s also a question our science teachers ask again and again. 

I’m deeply grateful to our exceptional science faculty, whose tireless efforts have shaped a program that is both dynamic and student-centered. Through ongoing reflection and iteration, they continue to refine our foundational curriculum, deepen the science inquiry experience, and design electives that are both creative and intentional. We are also particularly grateful for Peter Jewett, our science teacher and lab manager, whose steady leadership and technical expertise make so much of this work possible. And we’re thankful for the generous community support, from the longstanding Lamb Fund and Winningstad Chair to the Gewecke family’s gift to transform the greenhouse, that enables our students to do real, meaningful science. 

Thank you to all who attended, asked thoughtful questions, and celebrated the inquiry journey alongside our students. Science Night isn’t just a showcase of student projects, it’s a reflection of all we value: curiosity, challenge, perseverance, and wonder.