HHS Seniors Accepted into Columbia Honors Science Program

Harrison High School seniors Chanha Kim and Emma Guyonnet have been accepted into the prestigious Columbia Honors Science Program for the 2017-18 school year. High School students travel to Columbia University every Saturday to work in real labs with Columbia scientists through the school year. This is the first time Harrison High School students have been accepted into this program.

“This highly competitive program has an excellent reputation in the science education community for supporting high school students as they ready themselves to study scientific fields in college,” said Joan O’Keeffe, Director of Science and Technology at the Harrison Central School District.

There are twenty-five different subject matters that students can study and are asked to submit four options. Emma is participating in the Experiments in Genetics course and Chanha is studying Graph Theory.

Emma brings a personal connection to the study of Genetics, specifically as it relates cancer, and chose this course because of a passion for biology. Her grandmother had cancer and she found out her genetic mutation could be passed on so Emma began researching cancer and genes. She also attended the McGill Summer Academy this past summer to study Neuroscience.

“We learn a new concept/idea related to genetics and then conduct an experiment,” Emma said. “I like the fact that the class is hands-on and interactive. The professor and her teaching assistant teach at Columbia and give high level lectures.”

Chanha is exploring a new course of study for him at Columbia. As avid math student at Harrison High School, he is currently enrolled in the SUPA (Syracuse University Project Advance) Multi-Variable Calculus course. Chanha is also a part of the Math Team and scored a perfect score on three of the New York State Mathematics League tests – no easy feat. Chanha admits that he was unfamiliar with Graph Theory but found that the use of graphs is just a different way to explain ideas. The Columbia Honors program has said, “Being an extremely visual field, many problems in graph theory are easily stated, yet have complex solutions with far reaching implications and applications.”

Chanha is looking to apply what he is learning in the Columbia Program to his own HHS Science Research. Chanha also spent the summer at an eight-week program at Columbia where he worked on the Role of Gamma/Delta T-cells in Intestinal Transplants.

Both students began their course of study in late September and feel Harrison High School has prepared them for thus rigorous program. “I believe the IB Curriculum and philosophy at Harrison High School gave me the necessary tools to do very well on the Columbia Placement Exam,” said Emma. “I am happy to have the opportunity to study at Columbia as it is an exciting glimpse into college life.”