Work it! You can do this! Just one! More! Milliliter of Polydimethylsiloxane?
I’ll bet you thought I was gonna say one more rep….
Rising seniors Sean Holden, Kota Ueshima, and Reed Zimmermann got some serious mental workouts in this summer as research interns at UT Southwestern.
These three students participated in the highly competitive STARS research program. Upon acceptance, each student was assigned a faculty mentor to guide them through the scientific process and assign them a real (scientifically meaningful) research project.
The Work
In early June, the STARS interns received projects and faculty mentors to guide them through the process. They spent the next two months working full time to complete the project. At the end, the students presented their posters to colleagues and other faculty.
“Doing research in high school was a unique and valuable experience,” began Holden. “I was working alongside graduate students who knew much more than I did, so I had to learn quickly and often ask for help. However, I was surprised how independent I had become in my experiments towards the end of the internship.”
“I think it was cool to be in this real life experience,” Ueshima added. “There was much failure but then a meaningful success to it.”
The Social Aspect
Over 50 DFW highschoolers participated in the program, all rising seniors. The internship demanded a lot of work, but it also provided social activities for the participants.
The Sunday before starting at UT Southwestern, STARS interns went to Group Dynamix for some team-building.
The program treated everyone to a Saturday at Main Event, in addition to an on campus scavenger hunt.
Students also organized their own events like lunch at Klyde Warren Park, and going to 7/11 on 7/11.
