Eight high school students from Boston are working at HSPH as paid interns this summer under the School's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP), now in its 23rd year.
The eight were selected from among 150 applicants, who must be either Boston residents or enrolled in Boston public schools. The internship allows them to develop work experience in a lab or behavioral science setting. All must show an aptitude in science.
Ianna Thornquist, 15, of Brighton, who will be a junior at Boston Arts Academy, said she applied to the program because she is interested in a career in medicine. She said her school advisor, a science teacher, urged her to apply to RAP.
"It's going great,'' she said of her work in the School's Department of Environmental Health. "We're studying air pollution and air quality and how it is affecting the Mission Hill area. The city of Boston is interested in what we come up with and, hopefully, it will help.''
As part of the project, the students are monitoring traffic in the area with an eye to determining how traffic congestion may be affecting air quality, she said.
"This is just a wonderful opportunity for me to have,'' she said.
Hakeem Yaya, 15, of Dorchester, entering his sophomore year at the Urban Science Academy, is also interning in the Department of Environmental Health. "I really wanted to get a job for the summer, and when I saw that I might be able to get a job in the science field, it immediately caught my eye,'' he said. "I had never really paid much attention to public health before, but now, it's something to think about.''
Rahiel Tazele, 15, of Hyde Park, who will be a sophomore at Southfield School, is working in the Department of Nutrition. She is working on a survey of nurses' eating habits. "I edit all the surveys, and I code them,'' she said. "But I actually read them all. I really pay attention.''
Ada Lin, 15, a student at Boston Latin School, is working in the Department of Health Policy and Management, where she is studying cancer clinical trials in Roxbury to find out why it is harder to enroll African-American patients than white patients. "I'm doing a literature review right now, looking at abstracts,'' she said. "I think I've learned a lot already.''
Stephanie Matos, 17, of Hyde Park, who will be a senior at Fenway High School, Lauren Gunther, 16, who will enter her junior year at Beaver Country Day School, and Amaly Miranda, 16, who will be a junior at Boston Arts Academy, are all working at Channing Laboratory.
They are working on a research study of the effects of stress on women during pregnancy as it relates to asthma rates in their children.
"It's kind of cool to be a part of such a big project,'' Gunther said. "I love what I'm doing. It's not like going to work every day. It's more like having fun and learning something new.''
Miranda said that she is enjoying working on her people skills and learning what researchers do.
Matos said that she was just looking to do something interesting for the summer. "It beats bagging groceries like I do during the school year,'' she said. But she found that she is learning a lot at HSPH. "I just wanted an opportunity in a health care setting,'' she said. "I won't lie. I wasn't even sure what public health was. But I've learned that it is all about prevention. And that's important.''
At the end of the program, the students will present their research experiences to an audience of their parents, supervisors, co-workers, and friends.
—ML
Copyright, 2009, President and Fellows of Harvard College
