Sydney Marler, the founder, was motivated by her own experience when creating A-RISE: “My own interest in science began with participating in science fairs, but it was a huge struggle to find out that those opportunities existed. I think there exists an ‘opportunity gap’ even within the same school, like Andover.” Her goal for A-RISE was to “create a really open, inspiring, and supportive community on campus” and to “open up opportunities for even one person explores STEM.”

The club’s uniqueness originates from its mission statement. Student-run clubs in most schools have the motive of simply furthering student interests in a particular topic. However, A-RISE takes it a step further. It gives more students the opportunity to research topics specifically related to the STEM field.

According to Merriam-Webster, research is the “investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts.” Research is the foundation upon most science disciplines; the ultimate goal of science is to explain the world around us. Nonetheless, many high schools lack the resources and funding to provide their students with opportunities to research. At Andover, however, A-RISE exposes such students to numerous opportunities to further their learning and experience.

A-RISE has accomplished many things to further students’ exposure to research. A-RISE has given students the tools for finding research opportunities. In the first meeting, the club leaders presented on methods of landing summer internships under professors. After describing their experiences working in labs, writing papers, and being published in science magazines, they outlined steps and provided tips on finding a mentor for the summer. They described the two methods of finding a mentor: through summer programs or through direct email to a professor.

After giving the tools for finding these opportunities, A-RISE has also triggered students’ interests Through the weekly journal meetings on Tuesday nights, students are able to dive into a STEM topic that interests them and present on it In mid-February, senior director James Jusuf ’17 explicated a research paper called “On the Maximum Amplitude of Harmonics of an Asteroid Light Curve” by A. W. Harris. In this meeting, we learned about stars and analyzing graphical representations of their frequencies.