“We’re working on a crime scene,” said Sydnie Mason of Wake County, N.C. “Someone stole 10 airpods from a school.”
They had DNA samples from four suspects and were using gel electrophoresis, a scientific technique, to see which sample matched DNA from the crime scene. “Based on these results, we’ll be able to see who committed the crime,” Mason explained.
Twenty-four students from across the state gathered at N.C. Central University for the second session of the Summer Immersion Experience in Biotech. A $1.8 million grant from the NC GlaxoSmithKline Foundationfunds the two-week residential program, which uses hands-on experiments to teach biotechnology and gives attendees a $1,000 stipend.
Any rising 11th or 12th grader interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers can apply for the free camp.
“Programs like this are very important to provide exposure to students who wouldn’t ordinarily get that exposure, and that helps build diversity within the life sciences/biotech industry,” program director Carla Edge Oldhamsaid. “Hopefully we’ll have more of these programs in the future.”
INCREASING ACCESS TO STEM
NCCU’s GlaxoSmithKline Program has two Summer Immersion Experience sessions and a full-ride scholarship program for undergraduates in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The summer program, now in its fourth year, has field trips to local businesses, team bonding activities and a pitch competition to help with the students’ overall development.
“We have served almost 200 students since the beginning of our program,” Oldham said. “We have students from all over North Carolina, not only Durham and Wake county but also some of our Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties as well.”
North Carolina’s 100 counties are separated into Tiers 1-3 based on markers of “economic well-being” like the unemployment rate and median household income, according to the Department of Commerce. Tier 1 counties are the most distressed while Tier 3 counties are the least. For instance, Alamance County is Tier 1 while Wake County is Tier 3.
Students from rural and/or Tier 1 and 2 counties may not have the same opportunities as other students, Oldham said.
“It’s just amazing because some students come here from those rural areas and have never seen a [college] campus before,” said Danzel Kenan, camp director. “We’re doing a lot to mentor them and give them the opportunity to experience college life.”
Student feedback and evaluations show the program’s success, the directors said.
“We have an evaluation team that looks at the knowledge gained in the areas of biotechnology, financial literacy and entrepreneurship,” Oldham said. They don’t have data for the current students yet, but the past three programs show positive trends. “Almost 80 percent of them gain a tremendous amount of knowledge in those areas,” she said.
YOUNG STUDENTS DREAM BIG
Recruiting students to NCCU is a key objective, however, the directors said they ultimately aim to create a supportive community that will help the students accomplish their goals.
“We want them to come to Central in pharmaceutical science and clinical research science, but we also let them know that we support whatever decision they choose,” Kenan said. “We still tell them if you need anything, we’re here for you.”
Mason, a rising senior at Rolesville High School, will apply to colleges soon and said the program put NCCU on her radar.
“This school wasn’t really on my list, but now I’m seeing all they have to offer, and it’s helping me with my college decisions,” she said.
Mason plans to become a biomedical engineer so she can combine her passions for engineering and health care.
“I want to work and make prosthetics, pacemakers and stuff like that. Building is always interesting to me and I love health care, so it was a way to do both at the same time,” she said.
Zhoria Bridgers and Reese Merriweather, rising seniors at Durham School for the Arts, plan to become doctors.
“I want to become a pediatrician, so I thought doing something with biotech will help me have a greater understanding of science and what it’s like to be in a lab and figure out if this is really what I want to pursue when I’m older,” Bridgers said.
Merriweather said she is interested in dermatology and learning about biotechnology will help her since treatments used by dermatologists and other doctors typically derive from information discovered by researchers in labs.
Aagarshna Selvaraju, a rising senior at Hickory Ridge High School in Charlotte, said she struggled with figuring out a career path early in high school, but developed a passion for biotechnology and biology over the past two years.
“That’s why I joined this program: to kind of gain the tools and the skills I need to succeed in the future,” Selvaraju said. “I want to be known as somebody who created a cure and somebody who made a change and a difference in biotechnology.”
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