The partnership between Western Center Academy (WCA) and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, began over a decade ago when Dr. Chad Lane, then a USC professor, sought student feedback on educational software. Impressed by WCA’s students, Dr. Lane promised to include them in his future projects when he moved to Illinois. His research, initially focused on educational software, evolved into using Minecraft to teach coding.
WCA students engage in a week-long workshop with Dr. Lane and his graduate students, providing data through pre- and post-testing to assess the program’s effectiveness. Currently, WCA is exploring a new STEM mission focused on axolotls, an endangered species known for their regenerative abilities. The school’s recent trip to Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City, where axolotls live, involved tours with researchers and observations of axolotl conservation efforts.
Future plans include deeper involvement in axolotl research, potentially visiting labs at Harvard or the University of Kentucky. WCA aims to determine the role of axolotls’ unique genome in their regenerative abilities and its implications for both axolotls and human health.