The Future is Bright: Watauga’s National STEM Honor Society Has a Promising Start

National STEM Honor Society’s nationally recognized emblem. Photo Credits: National STEM Honor Society

Abbi Clark, Sports Desk Lead for The Powderhorn

It is no secret that Watauga High School is full of wonderfully gifted students. So the idea to start a club promoting not only the mental acuity of its students, but also their ability to create, test, and perfect their products feels like a natural progression. But ideas are nothing without actions, and a group of passionate students took action and created Watauga High School’s National STEM Honor Society (NSTEMHS). 

“The main goal for this club is to be a research hub of Watauga High School,” said NSTEMHS President and senior Calvin Zwetsloot. “We're definitely a very academic school, and this is going to be this extra step that a lot of students can take for the future, when they're doing college research.”

Zwetsloot didn’t start this club by himself though. Seniors Lilla Heath, Leo McEvoy, Holden Womack,, and Silas Powell all came together as the club’s officers. The group knew they wanted to create a science based club as they looked into different options.

“We chose the STEM Honor Society because we figured it would cover the majority of the research ideas and the topics,” said Heath. “We got in touch with Dr. Bailey, and it progressed from there. It took a while to kind of get everything started.”

Dr. Coleman Bailey became a member of Watauga’s administration team last year, bringing with him a $50,000 grant that resets yearly. But to continue to have access to the grant he must have students work on and compete with research projects. This is where NSTEMHS comes in.

“Last year [Dr. Bailey’s] goal was to reach every AP class and introduce them to this initiative, but because of Helene, he was only able to reach the AP Physics class and then a few other students such as Silas,” said Heath. “Now that we have NSTEMHS, we are able to use that money to fund the research projects of 50+ students.”

In the winter of 2024, with the help of the grant, Silas Powell was able to compete in the regional science fair at NC State with his project, “Reshaping the Appalachians: A Comprehensive Analysis of Hurricane Helene’s Impact on North Carolina’s Mountain Ecosystems.” There, he not only placed 2nd for his topic overall but also won the Brook Cheuvront Memorial Scholarship through the Morehead-Cain foundation which earned him a $1,000 scholarship. 

“Last year was our first year and we did well at the regional and the state level competitions,” said Powell. “But further down the road, to see people compete at the national level, or other really big countrywide programs would be really cool, and we definitely have the talent at the school here.”

The officers knew that Watauga could take this small milestone and make something much more grand with more students. The club’s application form went out to rising juniors and seniors with a B average or higher in AP STEM classes, and soon the officers were flooded with dozens of applicants. It wasn’t long before the club had a total of 50 dedicated and eager members. 

“This summer we started having individual meetings with everybody in our club. We sat down with them, and they talked about what their ideas were, and we helped them if they were confused or didn't know where to move on from there,” said Powell. “We plan to continue to have those personal and individualized meetings because forming a personal connection with the people in the club is going to go a long way. It's going to help us learn, it's going to help them learn and overall it's just going to create a better project.”

The goal for each project is to compete and even win something while representing Watauga. To do that, the officers would agree that finding something with purpose, reason, and love is the best way to stand out among other schools.

“A lot of other schools are way ahead of us. They've had these clubs for longer. And if you look at that, we're kind of behind the curve,” said Powell. “But we have a lot of people that care about what they do, they want to do something that can benefit them and benefit the community, and that's what's going to set us apart from other clubs.”

This is just the start of the fresh and promising club. The officers and club members know that they have a bright future ahead filled with great opportunities and learning new things. Watauga is a bright school with students who shine even brighter and will continue to shine and show their best through NSTEMHS.

“I can’t wait to see what these students accomplish in the future and I am so excited to see how this club will grow and foster more and more incredible thinkers, inventors, problem solvers, and pioneers,” said Heath.