For many Pioneer scholars, the topic they choose to explore in the program often changes once they begin working closely with their professor. Many students also revise their topics based on the advice other scholars provide in group sessions.

“Being able to share my findings with my professor and peers who validated and encouraged my unique voice gave me a lot of confidence and motivated me to grow intellectually,” said Pioneer scholar Isabel (United States, psychology, 2021).

While conducting research is not something new to Pioneer scholars, the experience of delving into a topic with a professor and a group of their peers and writing a well-organized paper helped them develop new skills that they wouldn’t have learned if they hadn’t participated in the program.

Many scholars also find that the process helped them clarify their academic goals for college and their future careers. “Pioneer changed my perception of my career goals in the sense that it introduced to me how fun joining ...more

Let’s not sugar-coat it. Pioneer is hard. It’s not for the faint-hearted, nor for the student for whom academic success has come easily and expects their Pioneer experience to be the same walk in the park.

Pioneer is for students who are up for a challenge and possess—or are willing to develop—GRIT.

Angela Duckworth, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Grit, the power of passion and perseverance, defines the term as the ability to harness “a combination of passion and perseverance for a singularly important goal.” She furthermore calls it “the hallmark of high achievers in every domain.” 

The focus of Dr. Duckworth’s research is how self-control and grit relate to success in both academic and professional pursuits. She has found that, rather than a static feature of personality, grit can be cultivated and grown. Good news for aspiring Pioneer scholars!

So what are the characteristics that lead to the requisite amount of passion and perseverance ...more

The Pioneer Research Program engages high school students in academic research on original topics in their fields of interest. The culmination of students’ efforts, the Pioneer research paper, is held to college-level standards of academic achievement. All of this happens, however, outside of both high school and collegiate educational settings, through an academic program designed intentionally for the purpose of supporting students in this journey and within Pioneer’s rigorous and supportive academic system.

The standards and oversight that comprise Pioneer’s Academic System have been developed by Pioneer alongside Oberlin College, allowing the Pioneer Research Program to offer college-credit to all students who pass the program. The standards and oversight, and Pioneer’s rigorous approach to research mentorship, has led to the program’s full accreditation by Oberlin College. In order to support Pioneer scholars meeting Pioneer’s rigorous standards, Pioneer has developed a comprehens...more

Joy is often associated with things like food thanks to the popularity of Irma Rombauer’s, The Joy of Cooking, and more recently to the art of “tidying up”, thanks to Marie Kondo’s fresh approach to organizing and decluttering home and workspaces.

In “The Joy of Research”, however, Economist and New York Times Columnist, Paul Krugman, described the passion he holds for his work. “What I really love,” he wrote, “is doing the research—puzzling out how health systems work, what’s going on with monetary policy, how to access and interpret data about the wheat market.” 

Pioneer scholars describe their research experience in similar terms, both the fact that it is like solving a puzzle and the joy and satisfaction it brings. This is due, in part, to the innate curiosity Pioneer scholars possess. The other contributing factor is the Pioneer Academic System through which students are guided by faculty mentors in using their curiosity and creativity to conduct original research within an a...more

Publishing a research paper as a high school student is a significant accomplishment—but as we have previously addressed in a recent article on our blog (“Is publishing a research paper the key to academic success for high school students?”) it is not essential to academic success, nor is it always the right path forward for a young scholar. With the variety of predatory and vanity publishing options continuing to increase in recent years, it is important for high school students to resist pressure to publish for the sake of publishing.  Pioneer’s academic system has always emphasized standards such as authentic interest, originality, rigor, authenticity, and academic integrity as the most important aspects in determining student success in the academic research process: the most important reward is not in superficial demonstrations of success, but instead in the skills, mindsets, and confidence scholars develop by going through the rigorous process of writing an original research...more

While some Pioneer scholars come into the program with a strong sense of the research topic they’d like to pursue, others come in looking for guidance in defining a specific research question within their general field of interest. To support students in developing their research, Pioneer Academics assigns scholars to a research concentration in which they spend five sessions meeting with a faculty mentor and a cohort of peers before selecting their topics. Pioneer scholar alumni from both scenarios have shared that the combination of freedom and support they received led them to identify a research topic that combined their areas of interest in unique and meaningful ways.  

One such student that came in with a broad idea of the topic she wanted to pursue is Cecilia (anthropology, 2016), a Pioneer scholar from China. The support she received in the cohort sessions helped her narrow her general interest in medical anthropology down to a specific research question. “I didn’t know sp...more

Like most high school students, Alejandra (biophysics, 2020), a Pioneer scholar from Colombia, had little experience with self-directed, creativity-driven learning when she began the Pioneer research program. Naturally, she was a bit apprehensive at first—could she really conduct original, college-level research in biophysics with no prior experience? 

What Pioneer scholars discover is that the Pioneer research program is designed to help students make the transition to high-level academics, combining the rigor of college with high school-level support. For students used to excelling in high school without much effort, the challenge of independent research is a push to prepare for the next level. Working through this challenge is empowering, as Pioneer scholars realize their true capabilities. For her part, Alejandra says, “[In realizing I could learn on my own], I gained a lot of self confidence. It’s not as though I’m an expert in biophysics–there is a lot more I need to learn. ...more