In St. Louis, For St. Louis

WashU senior Rachel Hochberg is not ready to say goodbye. Tonight is her final Night Off, a free monthly babysitting event for children with autism. and she is going to miss these kids and their families. “I feel like these are my children,” said Hochberg, Night Off family coordinator. “It’s been a big responsibility, one that I take extremely seriously. It’s also been one of the best experiences of my life.” 

Shannon Lenze, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, knows the grim statistics showing that gun violence, racism, poverty and a lack of access to transportation and nutritious foods can adversely affect mental and physical health during pregnancy, particularly among Blacks who suffer disproportionately more than people of other races. However, Lenze noted that many obstetricians hesitated to question pregnant patients about trauma related to their life experiences because it could upset them. Through her partnership with Elevating Voices, Addressing Depression, Toxic Stress and Equity (EleVATE) a community of academic physicians and clinics in St. Louis, Lenze had a light bulb moment — one that has helped guide her research on prenatal health of the pregnant person and baby.

Can we produce alternatives to plastic from renewable sources? WashU engineer Marcus Foston has devoted his life to that question. And today, 25 middle school students from Central Middle School in the Riverview Gardens School District have joined him on that quest. They are part of Washington University in St. Louis’ “Researcher for a Day” program, an immersive experience where young students spend a full day on campus, conducting experiments in WashU labs, exploring related science careers and meeting WashU students and faculty. 

Professor Katie Herbert Meyer, Director of the Immigration Law Clinic at WashU Law, was honored with a 2025 Women’s Justice Award by Missouri Lawyers Media. This prestigious recognition highlights Professor Meyer’s exceptional contributions to public service and her unwavering commitment to advancing justice for immigrant communities.

It was a night of excitement and celebration at the WashU Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards! Members of the WashU and St. Louis entrepreneurial community gathered in Crowder Courtyard to support our student and alumni startups as the Skandalaris Center awarded $250,000 in non-dilutive funding.

Three St. Louis startups received $50,000 each during the WashU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Awards April 17, the first funds distributed by the WashU Venture Network Follow-on Investments. The joint effort between WashU’s Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the “In St. Louis, For St. Louis” Initiative awards up to $150,000 each year to companies with WashU ties that previously have won funding through Arch Grants, the local nonprofit that awards equity-free grants to startups. The goal is to support startups with a high probability of remaining in St. Louis after the grant period is complete.

Even with 25 years of experience teaching a full range of grade levels from fourth to twelfth, Lisa Everett is keeping her own learning curve fresh. She accepted a new challenge last year: teaching first grade at Armstrong Elementary in the Hazelwood School District. She’s settling in just fine with her youngest set of learners yet, and getting an even better idea of what first graders are capable of understanding. For science, she’s leaning into mySci, a comprehensive kit-based program developed by WashU’s Institute for School Partnership.

Associate Professor Catalina Freixas has received a Provost Impact Award through WashU’s Confluence Collaborative for her research project, Segregation by Design. She was selected from more than 70 nominations and dozens of applications. Segregation by Design is a long-term, community-engaged project that analyzes racial segregation in American cities, using St. Louis as a starting point to study causes, effects, and mitigation strategies for residential segregation. The three pillars of the project are: analyzing historical and structural causes of segregation, implementing innovative neighborhood-based strategies for urban stabilization and revitalization, and promoting a sense of shared identity among St. Louis residents.

On Oct. 3, 2022, as the world was continuing to emerge from the grips of a global pandemic, Washington University unveiled a bold and ambitious strategic plan called “Here and Next.” Developed through a process that included 18 months of listening, outreach and work sessions — most of it on Zoom — and incorporating feedback from thousands of students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners, the plan mapped out a path forward for WashU for the next decade.

After finishing up their own schoolwork, WashU students travel to local schools, community centers and hospitals to shed the label of student and assume the position of instructor, dance group leader, basketball coach and role model. These undergraduate and graduate student volunteers are part of clubs committed to supporting the kids of St. Louis. Their projects range from teaching young hospital patients the fascinating — and slightly icky — science of slime, to introducing elementary students to the joys of dance, to helping high school students see themselves as future neuroscientists.