Walnut High Earns Back-To-Back STEM Award

For the second consecutive year, Walnut High School has been lauded with the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Distinguished School Award for empowering students with knowledge and skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Walnut High is among only 155 schools in California to offer the rigorous International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme/Project Lead the Way Biomedical Sciences Program. 

Students in the Human Body Systems course paired up to compare reaction times of voluntary and involuntary activation of the quadriceps muscle (better known as the knee-jerk reflex) on October 13.

With pant legs rolled up, the teens attached EKG sensors while using Accelerometers and Vernier Lab Quest minis to record measurements.

“A unique aspect of these PLTW courses is that students not only run labs using enzymes, DNA, microorganisms, etc., but also on themselves and each other,” said teacher Chiara Morgan.

“These types of hands-on labs engage students in the learning objectives with the added bonus of getting to learn a little bit more about themselves in the process!”

Only 214 high schools across the country received the 2020-2021 recognition for increasing student access, engagement, and achievement.