The In's and Out's of Molecular Modeling Club!

After many meetings and a trip to Seattle, Molecular Modeling Club ends yet another great year!

The Molecular Modeling Club was founded in 2012 by Mr. Dan Shannon. In its early years, the club went through some up and downs dealing with unforeseen circumstances and other types of adversity. Shannon told the Crusader, “It wasn’t really until five years after the club started that it began to take off… we just needed to find the right guys.”

Having the “right guys” is certainly something that Molecular Modeling Club seems to have succeeded at this year. The Crusader got to sit down with Brandon McCloud ’26, who said, “[Mr. Shannon] is a really nice guy and is one of my favorite teachers… He doesn’t directly help you, but he pushes you to be better and less dependent.”

This years molecular poster!

McCloud went on to tell the Crusader about the club, explaining that the twelve members started the year working closely with Dr. JiaJie Diao at the University of Cincinnati. With Dr. Diao, they took a deep dive into understanding the molecule that the club decided to study for the year; a protein that kills Parkison’s causing proteins. The club then progressed into constructing a poster for their molecule, meeting Tuesdays after school to do so. The final step for the club was to go present their work at a conference.

This year’s conference was in Seattle, Washington where the club traveled March 24-26, to present their findings on their molecule in front of scientifically curious minds.

After what McCloud called a successful presentation, the club got to go out into Seattle and enjoy the city. They went on the Seattle underground tour and visited the Seattle Space Needle, just to name a few stops.

The guys in the Molecular Modeling Club had an amazing year and can’t wait to see new faces in the 2023-24 school year!