Progress

Involvement

As a group, our primary participation is based on the philanthropic of high-school students putting their time towards a cause they believe in. Specifically within the central chapter, we have raised money, hosted Synapse events, administered biology enrichment activities, and grown the youth science community.

First Program

Our first program was hosted at our very own Moravian Academy Lower School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. From these beginnings, Synapse has grown to encompass an international community.

Annual Synapse programs at Moravian have been ongoing since the Spring of 2019.

Fundraising

Through non-uniform days at our school, we began our philanthropic sentiment in providing the financial ability for international schools to execute Synapse. After raising money through our school further in appeals for funding from student council, we grew to a much larger scale of fiscal support outside of our community. We continue to propose plans in funding from large technological firms in our area in their sponsorship as well as through private donors. This has grown out skillset in communicating the essence of Synapse and gaining significant support

Engineering Medicine & Biology

The Synapse chapter in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania initially was the first high-school chapter of the IEEE society. As a non-collegiate branch, we were somewhat limited in possibility of activities. Thus, Synapse was born as a means of scientific involvement geared towards the youth. We maintain a strong affiliation with the society and carry out protocol of IEEE. We also post a monthly blog which you can find here.

USA Biology Olympiad

We gathered interest for the USA Biology Olympiad to be administered in our school itself and raised funding and teacher support of this. We grew from a mere 8 students interested the first year to nearly 30 taking the test the subsequent year. To implement this testing in your own school, find more information here.

Future Health Professionals Conference

The majority of our volunteers are interested in STEM fields, specifically health-related professions. For career development & to augment our skillset by which we carry out the organization of Synapse, we attended the Pennsylvania HOSA State Conference. As affiliated Health Occupations Students of America, we have acquired new experience to assist in Synapse.

Science Research & Competitions

A group of members has also gone to conduct independent research through involvement in the Science Fair community. This has enhanced the construction of our curriculum and testing of the experiments themselves before being sent to external branches.