The Science Research Program (SRP) is expected to expand to sixteen students in the upcoming year, up from nine this year.
The Science Research Program as it began consists of a group of eight—nine this year—bright students who work in a highly stimulating environment to learn how to conduct advanced scientific research properly. The program, led by Mr. Deron Chang, begins in the fall of junior year, when students devise and carry out original research projects. They learn how to report on their findings correctly, by writing a publishable journal article and giving multiple oral presentations. They then spend the summer doing sophisticated research in professional labs. The SRP program culminates in the senior fall term, when the students make a formal presentation to the Choate Science Department and write a journal articles about their summer work. After a successful run as a small group, expansion may be detrimental.
Current SRP student Aditya Rajagopalan ’09 says, “The SRP program is fantastic. The aura of SRP is obvious—the fact is that you have some of the best students in the school working together, becoming very close very quickly, but learning not just scientific research skills, but rather life skills and scholarly skills.” The application process for SRP begins the second half of sophomore year and is highly selective. Out of the roughly fifty students who apply, only eight are selected—but will this change?
Currently, Choate is considering expanding the SRP program, doubling its size. Dean of Academic Affairs Kathleen Wallace stated, “This is the fifth year of SRP, and we discovered that it is working very well. It’s a terrific opportunity for the students. The people in the labs where the kids had worked have been incredibly positive about the students involvement, participation, and contribution.”
She continued, “The fact that the program is working well, and also that we have more kids who apply for it every year than we can accommodate—I think it’s appropriate to look at expanding it.”
If the SRP program doubles in size, it will probably split into two separate classes, one led by Mr. Chang and the other led by Dr. Rachael Gritzer. The SRP area in the science building would also need to expand to accommodate the increased number of students.
The increase in students would obviously make the process less selective, but Mrs. Wallace says, “We have a lot of talented kids around here, and so my guess is that we have more than eight or nine kids in a given graduating class who can meet the demands of the program and are interested in that sort of experience.”
Most current SRP students seem confused by and generally against the idea of expanding the program. Though obviously the change would be beneficial in that it would allow more students this amazing opportunity, some fear that the increase in size could dilute the talent in the SRP program.
Current program member Michael Lai ’09 says, “The expansion would make the program less selective. The school would also have to devote more resources to the program. The general ability of the top sixteen kids selected would be worse than the top eight selected. I believe that not all of the students would be able to produce the same quality work, and some might struggle through it.”
Suril Kantaria ’09 says, “The facilities that we have currently can only accommodate eight kids, and even then they are very small, and there’s not much space. When you have a smaller group, the kids can criticize each other more freely, they know each other better; SRP is really a team project.”
There is also some question about what will happen if the program is split into two separate classes. Kantaria wonders, “How will we separate the students? Will the students be separated by Varsity and JV? A major part of SRP is that the students learn from each other, so if you select more kids, will the 16 kids always be separated? If they are separated I think that takes away from the program, because it potentially causes conflict between the two groups.”
Concerns have certainly arisen regarding the quality of the program going forward. An anonymous SRP student from the Class of 2008 felt, “This will ruin what SRP is for the future...I feel they won’t be able to find enough of the right kids to do it. Another senior agreed “you definitely can’t have a lot of sub-standard kids in the course who aren’t as self motivated as SRP students need to be, so I think the selectivity is an essential part of the program”
SRP is a very competitive and intellectually stimulating class as it stands, so the question remains as to whether an expansion will do more harm than good.
