Written by Marketing & Communications EPIC intern Katie Berthoud ’25
On Wednesday, May 8, over 180 Red Knights showcased their work at the RED Expo. RED (Research, Entrepreneurship, Design) is an academic program at Benilde-St. Margaret’s that provides students with collaborative, hands-on learning experiences that parallel the modern workplace. Through this program, students use their creativity and collaborative skills to address issues impacting the world or to explore a personal area of interest.
Created by BSM’s Director of Curriculum & Learning, Dr. Stephen Pohlen ‘86, RED Expo was originally designed to highlight senior RED Capstone projects. It quickly became clear that there were many amazing examples of creativity, critical thinking, research, entrepreneurship, and design happening in places all over the school including clubs, internships, and various classes. RED Expo was then opened up to showcase student achievements that weren’t strictly based on GPA.
A notable aspect of the RED Expo is that it allows students to share their work, regardless of their GPA or test scores. “Grades are important to get you to the next level of education. However, what you can do with your knowledge and skills is what will make you successful in life,” shared Pohlen. “We want to celebrate student projects, performances, and presentations to help feed the efforts they are passionate about or proud of. BSM hopes this will help inspire them to keep doing this important, incredible work.”
Alongside her peers who design and publish the Knight Errant, junior Lucy Loes ‘25 presented her involvement with the student-led newspaper at BSM. “It was really awesome to show off all of the hard work the writers put into the Knight Errant all year long,” shared Loes. “It was also super cool to see all of the interesting projects put on display by other students that were shown off at the RED Expo because I wouldn’t have been able to see most of them otherwise.” Another student, Percy Rock ‘25, showcased his work through the technology internship. “This was the first time they let someone in the technology internship present at the RED Expo. A lot more people recognized it than I thought, and that was super cool,” said Rock.
Looking ahead, Pohlen hopes the RED Expo will continue to grow, showcasing more talents, projects, and achievements of the Red Knights. He shared, “Students have so many amazing skills and gifts to share, and it is exciting to bring those into the light and celebrate them.” We are BSM proud of our RED Expo participants, and we cannot wait to see the impact they continue to make on both the BSM community and the world!
