Source: Medium
The Advanced STEM Research program at Northwood is a full-year course that allows students to select a topic or question to research throughout the entire school year. Ran by Ms. Jill Walker, this course is one of the many at Northwood that grants students autonomy to delve into a topic they are truly passionate about and learn more about it. Every year, a wide variety of projects are spread throughout the program, culminating in the Research Symposium at the Innovation Hub on Main Street at the end of the year. At the Symposium, students in both the Advanced STEM Research and Advanced Humanities Research programs present their year-long projects to the school and Lake Placid community.
Sara Martin ’26
Kate Elbrecht ’26
Sara Martin ‘26 and Kate Elbrecht ‘26 are working on a project to determine if their workload during the season affects their performance. “We are testing the strength that women’s hockey players have and will see if they gain or lose throughout the season to see if we are overtraining,” said Martin. “We always find ourselves to be really tired at the end of the season, so we want to know when and how we are overtraining in season, because at the end of the season is when you need to be playing your best hockey. We are testing explosiveness, reaction time, and power through various tests such as jumps, sprints, and drop tests.” All the teams at Northwood endure long and grueling seasons, so hopefully this study finds out if it is too much or not.
Charles Pigeon ’26
Three-year senior Charles Pigeon ‘26 is working on a tool that can pick up pucks off the ice with arms attached to a shovel. “I am inventing a shovel with arms that open and close to pick up hockey pucks on the ice. I hope to help the hockey community by saving time for everyone, allowing you to get in more reps. This will help the whole hockey community and allow me to give back to the game that I love,” Pigeon said.
Post-graduate ski jumper Jack Kroll is developing force sensors to be integrated into his ski boots, allowing him to test the forces of his takeoff and
Jack Kroll ’26
landing. “I chose this project because I want to use the class as an opportunity to improve my own ski jumping,” Kroll said. “I am designing a set of wireless force insoles for ski jumping boots that will be paired with inertial motion sensors to allow us to measure the force exerted on the takeoff and landing of the jump, as well as analyze the landing physics. The sensors will also indicate the location of the weight in the boot and the angle of the ski. This can be used in real time to improve your jumping. I hope to validate my belief that ski jumping is safe, and physics should back that. The idea is that the force really is not as great upon landing as most people think,” Kroll added.
These three projects provide a brief glimpse into what the Advanced STEM Research program has to offer. The Northwood community looks forward to seeing all the projects in their final stage during the Research Symposium at the end of the year!
