IMSA Convocation 2025

Thank you to IMSA alum Dr. Keith Winstein ’99 for returning home to campus and inspiring our community with his keynote address at Convocation 2025.”https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/homepage/1071/thumbnail.jp

Mother

Photographyhttps://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/art_sw/1031/thumbnail.jp

2025 Coke Scholar

IMSA student Jaden Blankenship \u2725 has been named a 2025 Coca-Cola Scholar!https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/homepage/1064/thumbnail.jp

Jellies

Posterhttps://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/art_sw/1027/thumbnail.jp

Long climb

Photographyhttps://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/art_sw/1033/thumbnail.jp

Writing Educational Op-Eds That Engage: From Classroom Stories to Published Pieces

This session equips educators with the skills and structure to write effective op-ed pieces that translate their classroom insights and expertise into compelling written pieces. Participants will learn the essential components of op-ed writing, including structuring a 700-word piece, crafting engaging narratives, and developing clear theme statements. Through guided practice and analysis of published examples, participants will discover key principles of successful op-ed writing, from incorporating student stories to offering concrete solutions on timely educational issues. Helping Students Understand the Complexity of Ecological and Environmental Issues Through Use and Creation o

2025 MLK Celebration

Overcoming Alienation and Empowering Our Voices Presented by Brotherhood-Sister Circle (BHSC) Black National Anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson, Performed by IMSA Choirhttps://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/mlk_celebration/1011/thumbnail.jp

BSU

https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/black_history_month_read_in/1010/thumbnail.jp

Wastewater-Based Epidemiology for Infection Surveillance in a Residential High School

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a technique used to assess the health of a population by analyzing the relative concentrations of certain substances within wastewater. The COVID-19 pandemic heightened interest in WBE as a cost-effective, anonymous, and accessible tool for tracking community-wide trends of respiratory viruses such as Influenza A & B and RSV. However, questions remain about its applicability to other pathogens with transmission patterns. This study established a wastewater monitoring system at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), a residential high school with 650 students. Due to the close living and eating conditions, respiratory infections spread rapidly, making IMSA an ideal setting to assess WBE’s effectiveness for infection surveillance without individualized sampling. The campus consists of seven residential halls and one main academic building, allowing for targeted wastewater analysis. Over the 2024-2025 academic year, we used passive sampling devices to collect untreated wastewater weekly from manholes, extracting nucleic acids, and quantifying COVID-19, Flu A/B, RSV, Norovirus I/II, Adenovirus, and common Coronaviruses via PCR. Samples are banked for future retrospective studies. In this project, we will present a descriptive analysis of our findings, their implications for infection control, and our plans for expanding the study in future years

HBCU experience Panel 2025

https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/dei_panels_6/1001/thumbnail.jp