At a luncheon on Monday June 17th, 2013 in Georgia Tech’s U.A. Whitaker Biomedical Engineering building, 12 students from B.E.S.T. Academy and Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy (CSKYWLA) were matched up with their mentors and respective laboratories. After spending the first two weeks of the program in the classroom learning proper laboratory protocol and an intensive science curriculum, the students participated in a speed dating process geared at matching students to mentors. Today, they were given their white laboratory coats during a candle-lighting and reveal ceremony.
Project ENGAGE (Engaging New Generations at Georgia Tech through Engineering) is a new internship program that pays local high school students to actively participate in current scientific research under the guidance of Master’s and PhD students and faculty members. The students were chosen after a selection process that included creating a resume, providing reference letters, and complete an in-person interview. The internship will continue throughout the 2013-2014 school year and involves two faculty members, one from each academy. The goal of the program is two-fold: to raise high-school student awareness of the biotechnology world through hands-on research projects and to improve the schools’ current science education program through the teacher training initiative.
See more about the CSKYWLA ENGAGE scholars here.