As part of her Student Directed Project, Lily Sidman ’23 designed and taught a lesson and lab to 7th grade students  alongside her Marine Ecology teacher Ms. Wildes. The inspiration for the lab came from Lily’s summer internship at a biomedical research lab at Harvard Medical, where she studied zebrafish to learn more about epilepsy. What makes zebrafish special, as Lily explains, is that there is an 84% similarity between human genes and zebrafish genes. By studying the organisms and experimenting with gene editing techniques, a better understanding of the human body can be achieved.

I knew nothing about zebrafish before this. Why does no one know about these fish if they could change our world?

As the lab began, Lily was nervous that the students wouldn’t be able to properly dissect the zebrafish she had brought in; they are incredibly tiny. “The knife they used has a blade bigger than the fish,” Lily explains. Despite some initial hesitation, students immersed themselves in the challenge and successfully dissected the fish. In fact, some left the class proclaiming it was the best science class they had ever had.

For Lily, this called to mind a moment she remembers from her own Middle School experience.

When I was in 6th grade, there was a sophomore from Harvard that came in when we were dissecting hearts. It was hard to see representation of young people inspired and in love with a specific field. Seeing her love science made me love science.

The zebrafish lesson isn’t Lily’s only experience leading a classroom, as she also spends time as a teacher’s assistant in a 9th grade math class. It isn’t her first Student Directed Project either. Last year, Lily completed an STP about vaccine hesitancy and how healthcare in Massachusetts has an impact on vaccine rates. Lily was inspired to dive into this topic after having an allergic reaction to the COVID vaccine herself and spending time in the hospital. Oddly enough, it was through this time in the hospital that Lily got in touch with those running the zebrafish program at Harvard Medical.

Instead of graduating this spring, Lily finished her Upper School studies in the fall. Lily is excited to make the move to Tel Aviv in January to pursue an internship and take classes. She’s interested in double majoring in sociology and math and is currently taking calculus courses to prepare. Reflecting on her time at Beaver, Lily is thankful for the opportunities she was given and those she was able to create for herself.

Beaver teaches you how to think, not how to memorize. You need to know how to think. Beaver emphasizes focusing on what you want to change. They leave it open for you to pick what you want to focus on.