ISM students from all over the district lined the football field at the Ford Center at The Star Wednesday night to display their semester research. Students in the program spent the first semester researching a field of their choice and synthesized what they learned for ISM’s Research Showcase.

“My field this year is pediatrics and I was really interested in the cross section of pediatrics and business, so for the past few months I’ve been working with my mentor and we created a business plan to open my own pediatric clinic here in Frisco,” senior Amy Zhang said. “I got to speak to some of my elementary school teachers, middle school teachers, and past high school teachers at the showcase, so it was a lot of fun reconnecting and showing them my passions and what I’ve been working on for the past few months.”

In years past, ISM presentations were held at one of the schools in the district. The Dallas Cowboys sponsored the event this year, holding it at The Star.

“It was cool to see how the district values our program and see a full football field of ISM students who were participating in the program,” ISM teacher Brian Wysong said. “They really built it up nicely and it was run by [The Star’s staff]. Whereas, at Heritage, it was the teachers that did it and it was really cluttered.”

Unlike past presentation events, being at the Ford Center allowed ISM students to show their research off to the entire district.

“There was a lot of networking and interacting,” Zhang said. “I’ve attended the research showcases before at the high schools and at The Star it was a really great atmosphere.”

For the second semester of ISM, students will focus on mentorships and create a final product from the knowledge they have accumulated with a final presentation night at the school on May 18.

“I’m continuing to have mentor visits every week for about and hour,” Zheng said. “For my final product, I’m planning on continuing my business plan and making it more detailed, so that I could potentially actually open it if I wanted to.”