Kia Hill has 11 brothers and sisters. Some are older, most are younger. A junior at Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School, Hill wants to be a role model to all of her siblings.
It’s important, she says, that they see her take education seriously. It’s one of the reason’s she spent her summer vacation working alongside cancer physicians and researchers in the Future Scientist Program, a partnership among IPS, Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, Indiana University Health and the American Cancer Society. This is the first summer for the program and is only for IPS students.
“This (program) is something that doesn’t come around often and I thought it was important to take advantage of it,” she said. “I could have spent my summer doing other things, but nothing as important as this.”
Hill, along with four other IPS students spent eight weeks in the program, which included daily hours in a lab on the IU School of Medicine’s Indianapolis campus, weekly discussions, seminars, activities and campus field trips.
Faculty, staff and doctoral students guided each student. Students studied in labs that concentrated on cancer including how the immune system works in cancer patients and why cancer patients respond differently to treatment.
As a final product, each student participated in a poster presentation focusing on the research project they’d studied throughout the eight weeks. The project topics ranged from the effects of TGFB inhibitors on metastases from melanoma and breast cancer to HMGA2 protein expression in human breast cancer.
“The (program) offers our students an unparalleled opportunity for one-on-one instruction,” said Susan Becker, IPS director of K-12 science instruction. “This experience will undoubtedly be life changing.”
To participate, students submitted applications and completed an interview process with representatives from IU, American Cancer Society and IPS. Schools that participated were Crispus Attucks, Arlington Community High School and Tech High School. Each student received a $2,000 stipend.
“We liked the confidence in which they answered all of our questions. All of them had a future vision. They didn’t look at the program as if it were a summer job or just to get some money,” said Dr. Harikrishna Nakshatri, associate director for education at the IU Simon Cancer Center. “I could sense they had a vision and they showed us desire.”
Although the program is for high school juniors, an exception was made for Gabriella Figueora who recently graduated from Crispus Attucks and will attend IUPUI in the fall studying biology and Spanish. Figueora chose to participate because she’s undecided if she wants to practice medicine or focus on research.
“It’s been a very complex learning environment,” she said. “I have a greater appreciation for what physicians do.”
Even though only eight students applied for the program, Nakshatri predicts the number will be higher next summer. Space allows for five students.
“The initial discussion for the program began in January and we had the program running in May,” he said. “We only had applicants from three IPS schools. We believe that number will increase as well because we have more time to promote.”
