This year’s RedExpo event, which took place on May 10th, was a big success at BSM. The BSM entryway, library, and atrium all featured a variety of artistic and creative representations, from drones flying in the atrium to student-run businesses presenting and letting people taste-test their products.

The first RedExpo was held in 2021, and the second was held this May. This event was planned by Mrs. Doughtery, a former teacher at BSM, with assistance from Mr. Pohlen, who is currently in charge of the school’s RED (Research, Entrepreneurship, and Design) program.

The first RedExpo event was only open to Red Capstone students. The Red Capstone program is open to seniors who are looking to create something using their own ideas. This independent study is ambitious and a personalized class. Students use design thinking and the Agile management process to bring a project to life. Some examples students have done in the past, are starting their own business or writing their own book.

Senior Clara Luger was a part of the Capstone class this year and was able to create her own app. She applied her previous interests and used them to create a mental health app. For students like Clara sharing their creations at the event, they are able to receive praise, very insightful feedback, and recommendations. “A lot of people were just asking me about what I’m gonna do with it next year, and I think it gave me a lot of good ideas for what is next for my app,” said Luger.

Mr. Pohlen believed that this year’s event should give more recognition to students who excel in research, entrepreneurship, design, curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity, in addition to the students who took part in capstone projects. “I feel like so much of what school is about is celebrating people’s grades and GPA… I want to open that up and say there are other things to celebrate. There’s people’s critical thinking, the special research they’re doing, the creativity they have. All those kinds of things that are as important if not more important for developing students to be lifelong citizens and successful,” Pohlen said.

Many of the tables at the event had a connection to the engineering department. Robocup, drones, and the traveling hammer were all things that were created in the basement of the school, in the engineering room. “I think [the RedExpo event] is a good way for the community to see just how hard we worked down here. I think we’re pretty invisible throughout the school year and it’s really hard to understand just how awesome the work that’s happening down here is. I think [this event] is going to be a really good way for the community to see just how cool everything is down here,” the engineering teacher Mr. Nepomuceno said.

There was so much more than just the engineering department and capstone students presenting their work, like art, student business, and class papers. Senior Amelia Beutz was one of the art students that participated in sharing her work at the RedExpo event. “I showed about five pieces from my final AP art portfolio… the people I met gave me input on their careers. One woman was an artist explaining how she developed her art, like the kind of art she makes, [which] was a really cool encounter,” Beutz said.