The St. Jude High School Research Immersion Program offers a unique opportunity for rising seniors in the Memphis area and the immediate surrounding counties in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas to participate in mentored research projects in St. Jude laboratory, psychology, epidemiology, clinical or data science research programs. A primary goal of the program is to provide access and opportunities to participate in mentored research experience.
Students in the program will work in pairs with a research mentor to conduct a research project. Simultaneously, students in the program will work with a science educator to reflect on the nature of science, whose ideas matter in science, and who gets positioned as a scientist to develop a personal statement for their college application that illustrates how their experience in the program has influenced their perception of themselves as current or future scientist. At the conclusion of the research experience, students will showcase their research projects in a community exhibition. Each student will create a scientific poster to communicate their scientific findings.
Many graduates of HSRI continue to conduct research and serve as the next generation of mentors through the Emerging Leaders in Biomedical Research program. Undergraduates enrolled in a Memphis area universities are eligible.
The philosophy behind HSRI
Building a robust biomedical workforce requires addressing systemic challenges, including fostering interest and providing early opportunities for hands-on experience in scientific research. These efforts are essential to cultivating the next generation of scientists who will drive innovation and advance global health.
To address this challenge, St. Jude launched a unique research immersion program for Memphis area high school students. An initiative outlined in the St. Jude FY22–27 Strategic Plan, the internship program provides structured educational and hands-on experience for students interested in biomedical science. It also helps to expand the scientific workforce by providing opportunities for highly talented students.
Equitable selection process
The program was intentional to incorporate best practices for ensuring an equitable selection process. The selection process involved multiple rounds of blinded and unblinded review from a representative group.
Peer and mentorship relationships
Positive relationships and a sense of belonging are integral in fostering the development of scientific identity and ensuring retention of future scientists in the biomedical career pathway. In designing the program, the St. Jude STEMM Education and Outreach Program staff carefully considered the programmatic structures put in place and how these structures might work to foster relationships within the program—both peer-peer relationships and mentor-mentee relationships.
To promote strong, positive peer-peer relationships, students entered research spaces in pairs rather than individually, which is often the case in research immersion programs. It can be very intimidating for students to walk into a research space all alone, fearing that everyone there is much smarter than them, or that they’re going to make a mistake or break a very expensive piece of equipment.
These fears can manifest themselves into feelings of imposter syndrome where students convince themselves that they don’t belong. Having students work in pairs offsets these fears by providing a sense of companionship and reassurance that they aren’t the only novice in the room.
To promote strong, positive mentorship relationships, mentors and mentees conducted an activity to co-create their shared expectations and norms for the mentorship relationship. Together, they mapped out how they like to give and receive feedback, what their goals were for the mentorship relationship, their thoughts on how to foster a healthy mentorship relationship, and what their individual roles were in the relationship. These structures helped ensure that all participants (mentors and mentees) felt valued and heard.