“Rivers on the Road” Admission Tour Brings Science to the Harvard Museum of Natural History

Director of Enrollment Management Yassine Talhaoui welcomed prospective families from Cambridge and surrounding areas to the extraordinary space, which attendees had the opportunity to explore before the speaking portion of the program began. He then introduced members of the professional community and parent/caregiver volunteers, asking them to choose one word to describe Rivers. Joyful, forward, connected, unexpected, and invested were among the answers.

Head of School Ryan S. Dahlem was also on hand to meet families and talk about the school’s educational philosophy of Excellence with Humanity. “You will hear those three words many times as you get to know The Rivers School,” Dahlem said. “We hold high expectations for our students and challenge them, but always in the context of supportive relationships with caring adults. When they graduate, we want to see them whole and ready for the next step of their educational journey.” 

Rivers Science Department Chair Betty Bloch, part of the biology and chemistry teaching team, addressed the audience, recounting what she sees daily in the Revers Center for the Science and Visual Arts, a 34,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility dedicated to interdisciplinary and experiential learning in science and visual arts on Rivers’ 55-acre campus in Weston. 

A typical day in Revers, said Bloch—who holds a doctorate in biochemistry/chemistry— might begin with Grade 10 chemistry students, safely positioned under a ventilated hood, writing down observations as they combine pure copper with concentrated nitric acid for the first time and view the reaction. Turning a corner, she then peers into a lab research space, which is now home to “more than a few hundred Drosophila,” more commonly known as fruit flies. Seniors enrolled in the honors science research seminar are part of a collaboration with Stanford University’s Stan-X network, which connects Rivers students with students from other schools nationally as they work on experiments designed to study tissue function in flies.

Across the hall students in robotics and engineering studios are using 3-D printers to shape materials for their robots. The physics wing is full of “fun toys” like a huge metal orb that hangs from the ceiling to demonstrate pendulum motion. And the airy atrium space allows for the annual egg drop competition. In all, Bloch painted a picture of a building abuzz with exploration, learning, and discovery—exactly the kind of activity envisioned when The Revers Center opened in early 2020. 

After Bloch spoke, current student Will Croom ’25 talked about real-world applications of the program. Croom took part in an independent research project with the Summer Science Internships, a signature Rivers program for rising seniors, which sends students into a variety of settings—medical, engineering, software, biosciences, robotics, and more—to gain substantive experience in those fields and see firsthand what a career in sciences can look like. 

Croom also had the chance to participate in Harvard Medical School’s MEDscience program, where he went to the medical school to participate in hands-on classes taught by doctors and other medical professionals. At the heart of each session was the opportunity to work on a simulated patient, where students learned how to take vital signs, administer an epi pen, and insert an IV, among other tasks. 

After refreshments and more mingling with families, Dahlem summed up the night. “I always walk away from these experiences learning more about Rivers myself,” Dahlem said. “So I am right there with you in the journey of discovering this remarkable school.”