The high school is home to no shortage of clubs, with its newest addition being the Grey Matter Society, founded by senior Azra Bano along with their advisor Mrs. Prince this 2023-2024 school year.

The club is one neuron out of many in a cerebrum network of high school level Neuroscience Clubs affiliated with the Yale School Department of Neurology.

The term “Grey Matter” actually refers to a melanin-lacking region of the brain and spinal cord, responsible for processing and integrating sensory information, as well as controlling body functions.

The Ivy’s ”Grey Matter Project” has a mission to “promote education and career interest in neurosciences to teens prior to higher education, and to close the neuroscience/education gap,” as stated by the official Yale School of Medicine information page.

In fact, according to founder and president Azra Bano, as of this year it will become a “non-profit organization … and spread to other high schools … nation-wide. We want students to gain hands-on experience and … be academically challenged”.  In fact, one of their newest courses is a program in AI and Data Science that they’ve partnered with MIT.

This club would be a great opportunity for those interested in the neurology and biomedical fields, and luckily enough it opens up its membership every semester.

A selective society, members must apply to be considered for membership, with applications reviewed by the Yale and PHS GMS Officer Teams. As of next year, they will have academic requirements to be inducted into the society.

The uniqueness of their “two-cycle-per-academic-semester” accommodates students by giving them more of an opportunity to join. Whether someone did not make a previous acceptance period or wanted to reapply for another session– even those interested in joining mid school year, the club gives students the flexibility in their participation period.

If accepted, members are expected to pay a one time $15 fee (for each semester they are members for) which will then give them access to the extensive offerings of the club, including networking to certified professionals, exclusive panel discussions, labs, research, experiments, and more!

Jazmine Alvarado Ortiz, a Junior member of cohort Semester 1, explains her reasoning for reapplying to the club’s second semester: “I joined because I’m interested in neuroscience [nursing] and think this is a good way to expose me to the different aspects of the brain and nervous system. [It] provided me with a safe environment to learn without the stress of grades. I returned … because I feel like there are more experiences I can have being part of the club.”

Not to worry though, the club still offers a wide variety of events and activities open to all students, including virtual career and research lectures via zoom.

As for the background of the club’s origin with regards to the high school, its founder Azra Bano shares her personal history and reasoning for seeking its establishment: “one of my loved ones was diagnosed with metastatic cancer which had spread to his brain, and I took a long leave of absence from school to visit and tend to this family emergency in India.” She relays how “Before this, I was more interested in Computer Science and Business, but this important phase in my life had shifted me to Neuroscience and the mysterious wonders of the brain”.

The brain is a complexity indeed, and scientists are still in the juvenile phases of its understanding, with new information being discovered and existing reanalyzed every second.

Clubs such as these, which give students an early introduction into such a challenging-yet rewarding field of study, are an excellent privilege for students to utilize, whether completely engulfed into medical career aspirations or just wanting to test the waters into all science has to offer.

With a number of different activities, some of which include monthly zoom meetings with experts in respective fields, research projects, and popular heart and brain dissections, members get to dive into career sectors and advanced medical applications. Even planning a potential trip to Yale Medical School in New Haven, Connecticut, members also have access to Neurological Assessment Certification (which medical students need in college – this society gives a head start), Surgery and Suturing 101 Crash Course, and a Data Science and AI Program with Robotics Club and TSA partnered with MIT.

There’s something for everyone at Grey Matter Society and Bano exhorts to anyone interested that “we aren’t just a club to join to put on your college application because everyone else is doing it – we mold you into an intellectual force that is constantly asking inquisitive questions about the world around you and is ahead of the curve through knowledge about various subjects in science and medicine and STEM”. It is so much more than a science or medical club; “It’s a Society where we break new ground every single day in an array of diverse fields, from Neuroscience to Computer Science and AI with our Data Science program with MIT, and engineering or even literature…it’s a unique club to entice admissions committee’s at top colleges who have seen the names FBLA or HOSA millions of times already”.