01/18/2026
๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: At The Science Academy, learning STEM is a given, but in the case of two of our alumni, ๐๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ก๐ฎ๐ถ๐น ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐บ๐๐ฎ๐ (๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ โ๐ฎ๐ฐ), theyโre literally a part of science.
Gillian and Sky have been participants of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the largest long-term study of brain development ever conducted in the U.S.
Launched by the NIH in 2015, this 10-year study has followed our alumni and nearly 12,000 other children nationwide, beginning at ages 9โ10, to better understand how the brain develops through adolescence. Researchers have tracked everything from brain imaging and cognitive development to health, environment, and lived experiences, creating an unprecedented, open-access dataset thatโs been used by scientists around the world.
Why does this matter? Findings from ABCD have already deepened our understanding of mental health, learning, environmental influences, and how social and economic factors shape brain development in kids. The collected data has already contributed insights into a variety of areas like the effects of screen time on children, healthy sleep habits and brain development, and the way ADHD medications might really be working in the brain.
ABCD has reached their 10th and final year, but thanks to a 7-year funding extension, they will be able to follow participants into young adulthood when many lifelong patterns and outcomes take shape. Both alumni plan to continue participating in this second round of the study.
We are incredibly proud of Gillian and Skyโs dedication to science and contributing to research thatโs helping shape the future of neuroscience, public health, and education.
๐๐๐ ๐๐ก ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ The ABCD Study ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฆ (https://abcdstudy.org/) ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐บ, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ข.
