It’s mid-June, which means that school’s out for the summer! While most students are cheering about their newfound freedom from the classroom, a special group of high school students are cheering about the start of the CIRM SPARK internship program.

SPARK is CIRM’s high school educational program that gives students from underrepresented communities the opportunity to conduct stem cell research at top-notch universities in California. Students will spend the summer working in stem cell labs under the guidance and mentorship of scientists, PhDs, master’s students and postdocs. They will learn basic lab techniques like how to do PCR and how to grow stem cells.

Each student will have their own research project that answers an important question in the stem cell field. Students will also attend scientific lectures at their host university, participate in patient-centered activities and write blogs and social media posts about their experiences in the lab. At the end of the summer, they will show off their hard work through posters and talks at the annual SPARK conference.

SPARK gives students early exposure to research and proves to them that science is not only fun but is also a promising career option within their reach. We’ve offered a high school internship summer program for the past few years, and many students who’ve previously participated have told us that they are excited to pursue an education in science or medicine in college.

Ranya taking care of her stem cells!

I’ve featured some of these exciting success stories previously on our blog. One of these stellar students is Ranya Odeh. She was a student in the UC Davis SPARK program and recently told us that she will attend Stanford University to pursue bioengineering after receiving the prestigious QuestBridge scholarship. Another student we featured recently is Shannon Larsuel who participated in the Stanford SPARK program. Shannon was inspired after she worked at the Stanford bone marrow registry as part of her SPARK experience and now plans to be a pediatric oncologist.

Now that the 2017 SPARK program is in session, we can look forward to another exciting summer of talented and motivated students. Our SPARK students are encouraged to document their summer experiences on social media, so you’ll be able to follow their journeys on Instagram. Make sure to check out @CIRM_stemcells Instagram account and the #CIRMSPARKlab hashtag on both Instagram and Twitter.

If you’re a student or teacher who wants to learn more about the CIRM SPARK program, visit our website for more details. And with that, I’ll leave you with a few of the most recent Instagram posts from our new cohort of SPARK students!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVTKN8kFwaC/?tagged=cirmsparklab

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVVm1b1lyki/?tagged=cirmsparklab