Dear Dr. Stokes, thank you so much for your support! We are very excited about our multi-layered mentoring between medical students, undergraduates, and high school students! 

We found the multi-layered mentoring happened organically in our grant, and was one of the most valuable pieces.  Various components of the program involved college students working with high school students along with high school teachers and university faculty.  

Hi Ann, Thank you for your comment and watching our video! I am very interested in what you think helped contribute to the organic multi-layered mentoring. Also, love that you involved both high school students and the teachers! 

Having the high school teachers participate along with a group of students from their school was one of the many wonderful ideas our PI, Dr. Balakrishna, included in the design.  In addition to providing professional development for high school teachers, along with the college faculty, it also helped the high school students feel comfortable and connected (and accountable!)

Hi Jayashree, thank you for viewing our video! Wow, I love how you involved the teachers and STEM experts in the field. We are interested in ways in which we can help facilitate a nurturing mentoring relationship between high school students and faculty as well. 

Hi Jayashree. Interesting to hear about your layered mentoring initiative. Even though the undergraduates in your program may not have had a higher-up peer mentor, they probably learned a lot through the experience of providing mentorship!

Thank you so much for he support, Paige! We are really excited about connecting the undergraduates, graduate students, and HS students together. Appreciate the kind words! 

Hi Barry, You got it right. The pre-service teachers support the high school students outside the lab by providing instruction on the topics and methods that the high school students are encountering in the lab. They will not have had the benefits of college-level STEM courses yet and the extra targeted lessons by budding STEM teachers will make the material more relatable to their level. On the other hand, the pre-service STEM teachers gain experience in supporting students who pursue inquiry-based research projects. It's a win-win.

Hi Stacy! We are recruiting students by speaking with different STEM classes at Jack Yates High School and working with STEM teachers and instructional specialists. Although the grant funding mostly supports the undergraduates, we have, fortunately, been able to fundraise to support high school students with stipends for the research experience. 

That's wonderful that you've been able to generate the funds for the high school students. It's so important to remember that they might have a job - and need that money - otherwise.  

I would love to see if that school would be interested in e4usa!

Absolutely! Providing financial support for the high school students was a major priority for us and is much needed. I’m so interested to see how we can bring e4usa to the school! 

Hi Rita, great question! The high school students will be paired to have a peer mentor and will have undergraduates and medical students on the team with them. They will have experts and peers to share with and work alongside. 

Thank you so much, Donna! We are excited to watch this program grow and see the impact!

Thank you, Ha!!

Thank you for your support, Dr. Horn!! Truly appreciate it!

Thanks so much! We appreciate the interest and support! Yes, we are very excited to track and learn from the impact. 

Thank you so much! We are so excited to get started with them this summer! 

Great questions! This summer we will have three research groups, working in three separate research lab projects. Each group consists of 1-2 medical students, 1-2 undergraduates, and 2 high school students. We are exploring working with the high school students to use this research for their IB internal assessment requirements. 

Hi Janet, thank you for the questions! Yes, we are planning to evaluate the impact of the layered mentorship across each level and between the groups of participants. We are definitely exploring for ways support additional students (high school, undergrad preservice STEM teachers, and medical students). 

Thank you for the response, Mariam.  I'll look forward to track the progress of this effort and the insights that come from it!

Hi Tracy! So happy to hear that you are also exploring a way to include high school students and college students in a campus learning opportunity! While we are still early in the program, one thing we have learned that it is essential to build solid relationships with the campus teachers and involve them in recruitment practices. The teacher and admin buy-in helps with getting opportunities to speak directly to the students which is also very important. We also had to fundraise to garner funds for stipends that high school students will receive for completing this experience. We are hoping this can help additional students participate. 

Thank you so much, Dr. Craig! Greatly appreciated! 

Thank you so much, Dr. Shields! Truly appreciate all of your support of our program!