While the morning tunes echo through the hallways, drowsy students depart from their friends and walk into their first-period classes while others  race up the staircases to avoid being marked late by their teachers. However in Room 325, students in Dr. Mahmoud’s Post-AP Genetics class furiously type away on the yellow-skinned Lenovo laptops. The reason behind their early endeavor is their dedication and passion towards writing articles for the genetics e-journal, The Wolvergenes.

Last year, the journal was created to serve as a final project for the senior class. “I wanted to create an activity where the entire class collaborated together to make a significant product that relayed their knowledge to the rest of the school community, so I went ahead and bought the website domain,” said Dr. Mahmoud.  He wanted to see the creative side of his students and their potential to build the e-journal’s content with the domain entrusted to them. He believes that his students’ involvement in other activities such as clubs, sports, organizations and research competitions, will assist them in creating the journal.

“I wrote about a gene predominantly found in Tibetans. It connects to my heritage, I feel that it is meaningful in that I was able to research two things that I love during the end of the year,” Tshering said.   

Last year, the theme of the class project was Genetics Across Disciples. Students were required to connect any topic learned in class to real-life situations. In other words, they were expected to relay their knowledge and associate it with topics ranging from sports to medicine. “We’ve had students from Sarah Lawrence College give us a presentation on genetic counseling. I wanted something similar where we can teach the entire student body about themes they can relate to and learn about,” said Dr. Mahmoud.  

This year, however, the theme establishes a connection between genetics and identities. Some students have take it upon themselves to write about the relationship between genetics and the identity of organisms such as plants and bacteria. On the other hand, several took the other route in researching the relationship between certain genes and a person’s identity.

Lhaden Tshering ’19 explored the correlation between her cultural identity and specific genes. “I wrote about a gene predominantly found in Tibetans. It connects to my heritage, I feel that it is meaningful in that I was able to research two things that I love during the end of the year,” Tshering said.   Each student handled a different aspect of Wolvergenes, and their interviews with teachers, vibrant artwork and enriched articles will be soon posted. In addition to being a contributing writer, Tshering is the organizer of the project. “It has been really fun to oversee the different parts of our genetics e-journal, especially when it came to viewing the creative elements that my classmates are adding to our webpage. Whether it is through original artwork, interviews with faculty, or articles, they all express how genetics coincides with their identity,” she said.

With its blooming progress, the journal is estimated to be done before the last day of classes. Before the seniors graduate, they are making a positive impact on the school. Support the journal by checking out their written pieces in: https://www.wolvergenes.com/.