Only two teams from Massachusetts earned honorable mention awards at this year’s national ExploraVision competition, and those two state teams consisted of students exclusively from Wilbraham & Monson Academy.

A pair of groups from WMA’s STEM 9 classes were among the 57 teams to receive honorable mention status. The contest asked students to research a topic while looking 10 years into the future.

The team of Qingxuan “Jack” Wang ’26, Ruihang “Ricky” Xiao ’26 and Yijie “Miles” Hu ’26 from Jake Shechter’s class tackled Virtual Reality. Meanwhile, the combination of Brock Beamish ’26, Jayden Lee-Choi ’26, Lilly Ricci ’26 and Mack Gallagher ’26 from Shir Shoham’s class addressed hydrogen-ion batteries.

Quotes

Dr. Shechter on his group’s project: “Their project was designing an advancement for VR technology. They envisioned using a computer chip implanted into the brain that could communicate with the technology. With a direct connection to the brain, all sense could be simulated as opposed to the current technology, which is basically just a screen very close to your face and headphones. One of the applications of this technology that they came up with was to use it as a training system for surgeons so they can practice a surgery in the virtual world before doing it on a person.”

Ms. Shoham on why it’s important for WMA to participate in ExploraVision: “We compete in ExploraVision because it allows students to work together as a team, conduct meaningful research into a topic they would not learn in the classroom, write a scientific essay with very specific guidelines and present in front of their whole grade.” 

Jack on his team’s accomplishment: “Our whole group is very excited that we won the award because this project was something that my group worked hard to complete and make the project the best that we could. But even still the award took us by surprise because we felt that some of the parts we talked about were not very descriptive, but we are still grateful for the award.”

Brock on his team earning honorable mention recognition: “I think that the team won an award at this year's ExploraVision competition really reflects the excellent opportunities that the school offers and the students who take advantage of the opportunities. The group worked extremely hard, and it really showed in our results. I'm excited to see how the school will do in the ExploraVision competition for the years to come.”