October 28, 2025

If you ever need to refer back to a previous Titan Tuesday, visit the Titan Tuesday Archive.

In honor of Veterans Day, IMSA invites students to take part in our Veterans Day Reflection Contest. This is a chance to share, in your own words, what this day means to you. Consider how the values of service, sacrifice, and patriotism are demonstrated by those who have served our country and continue to inspire others.

Reflections should be 250 words or fewer. Three students will be selected to read their essays during the Veterans Day Assembly. Winners will also receive a $25 DoorDash gift card.

Submit your reflection to officeofpublicaffairs@imsa.edu 
by Thursday, November 5, 2025.

Calling All Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts!

If you are a Boy Scout or Girl Scout and would like to participate in the Veterans Day Assembly on November 11, please email Tamara Newquist at tnewquist@imsa.edu.

Representatives from Herff Jones will be on campus to take measurements and orders for seniors' caps and gowns, as well as orders for class rings and letter jackets.

The Kane County Fairgrounds is hosting a trading card expo with over 180 card dealers selling sports trading cards, Pokémon cards, and more. IMSA will cover the entry fee for those students interested in attending. The trip will depart from campus at 9:00 a.m. and return at 12:00 p.m. Students can sign up using this form.

Priority will be given to students who sign up by November 1. 

Study Session

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

IN2

Peer Tutors will be available for academic support!

AI Bytes Returns: 
New AI Center Location in IN2

Join us every B-Day for the return of AI Bytes from 2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the new AI Center, now located in the back of IN2! Meet amazing Alumni working in the AI field and enter for a drawing to win a $25 DoorDash Gift Card.

Here’s the Fall AI Bytes Lineup:

• November 4: "Data Science and Machine Learning" Jessica David '05 (Principal Data Engineer & Ambassador of Fun)
• November 18: "AI and IT" Jake Gerstein '15 (CIBC)
• December 2: "AI in the Legal Profession" Susan Massey '01 (Buckingham Business Law)

Questions? Email aicenter@imsa.edu

Email Angie Richardson at angie@imsa.edu if you have any questions.

ISA is seeking parent volunteers for the upcoming Diwali Cultural Show. You can help by donating food, giving your time, or contributing funds for the student meal/reception after the show. Please consider signing up using the links below. The students look forward to these cultural show meals and very much appreciate any support from our IMSA families!

Please print and include

the meal content form with any food donation.

You may also donate funds via Zelle to

treasurer@imsapac.org

If you could not attend last week's Sophomore Parent Meeting, here are the presentation slides for your reference.

Please reach out to Angela Malloy at sophomore@imsapac.org if you have any questions!

Sohum Mehta '26 and Saaketh Bhojanam '27 recently presented their research at the 2025 ACM Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, and Health Informatics (ACM BCB), one of the top conferences in the field. Their two papers focus on privacy in genomics and biomarkers for Sarcoidosis, studying how computer science can help protect genetic data and better understand complex diseases. Their work will be published in the ACM Digital Library. They are among the youngest presenters in the conference’s history.

Sohum and Saaketh were also accepted to the 2025 NeurIPS Workshop on LLM-Eval, a leading AI research event, for their paper exploring how well large language models perform compared to benchmarks.

Sohum Mehta '26

Saaketh Bhojanam '27

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Associate Rodrigo Sanchez and Area Coordinator Stephanie Broy were invited to share their work at the annual ASCEND Diversity, Equity, and Rightful Presence Conference at Aurora University. Their presentations highlighted IMSA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and how these efforts positively impact the student experience.

Congratulations to IMSA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Team and Human Resources (HR) Department for their recognition in the 2025 OnCon Icon Awards! IMSA’s DEI Team was named among the Top 50, and the HR Department among the Top 100 in their respective categories.

Winners were selected through peer and community voting, recognizing teams that have made a significant impact within their organizations and industries, contributed to their professional communities through thought leadership, driven innovation, and demonstrated outstanding leadership.

At IMSA, we have a flex time during the day where students have no scheduled class time for 30 minutes. We call this time the Support and Engagement period, also referred to as S&E. It was originally implemented a few years ago as a chance for students to check in with faculty and get extra help. The time is unscheduled, so some students use it to do homework, catch up with friends, or take a brain break.

It's also a time for visitors to connect with IMSA students, such as college admissions representatives and STEM professionals. This past week, I sat in our Center for Innovation and Inquiry (IN2) during S&E and witnessed two different presentations simultaneously. One guest was an IMSA alum currently working at NVIDIA, who joined from the West Coast to speak with students about computer engineering during our AI Bytes session. Another was a team of scientists from Avantor on the East Coast, who shared insights about their careers as STEM professionals. It was pretty fascinating to see the two groups engaged simultaneously with professionals from across the country in rooms separated by a glass wall.

The experience reminded me that a community like IMSA will rally around opportunities for our students when flexibility is built into the design. It's not just time periods like S&E, but also being part of a residential community where students have the flexibility to explore and determine pathways of opportunity for each other, whether they are academic, social, leadership or service-minded. It reminded me how grateful I feel to be part of this remarkable community.

Students connecting with professionals across the country during S&E period.

The Biology of Behavior class recently visited the Brookfield Zoo with Dr. O'Leary-Driscoll and Dr. Amacher. The students had the privilege of discussing many of the zoo's ongoing and upcoming research projects with Dr. Charles Ritzler, a zoo behaviorist. They also got a behind-the-scenes tour of the veterinary hospital from zoo veterinarians, Dr. Sathya Chinnadurai and Dr. Copper Aitken-Palmer. They spent the rest of the day doing behavioral observations for a class project and enjoying all that the zoo has to offer, including the amazing new primate habitat! 

Dr. O'Leary-Driscall and Dr. Amacher can't wait to bring the next Biology of Behavior classes back in the spring! 

Apex America Initiative:

High School AI Championship

Put your AI and STEM skills to the test in America’s first national high school AI competition! This competition is created by Correlation One, the experts behind programs that connect students with top companies like SpaceX, Google, and Tesla. All experience levels are welcome to enter!

How It Works

• Phase 1: Online skills assessment (Python, math, data reasoning)
• Phase 2: Team challenge round — solve real-world AI problems with peers and mentors
• Phase 3: Grand finale — compete for scholarships ($25,000 for first place!) and network with industry leaders

Help is available at IN2 from IMSA.ai and the AI Center Staff.

Competition: March - April 2026

Application Deadline: November 30, 2025

If you’re interested in supporting IMSA’s legislative advocacy to fund new residential facilities, please fill out the interest form.

Use the peer tutor website to find out more information about IMSA's peer tutors and how to get in touch with them. 

Contact Caleb Schlessler or Ms. Keck with questions about the Peer Tutor Program. 

October 31 and November 1- Drama Performance

November 7 - Diwali Student Show

November 8 - Diwali Family Show

November 11 - Veterans Day Assembly

November 15 - Admissions Preview Day

Notice of Nondiscrimination: IMSA prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity that it operates. Individuals may report concerns or questions to the Title IX Coordinator.