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Fred Hutch offering STEM boot camp for students

By Patranya Bhoolsuwan
By Patranya Bhoolsuwan

SEATTLE — Fred Hutch has launched a new summer boot camp to get more high school students, especially girls, interested in STEM.

That's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

The program is called “Pathway Explorers” and it gives students in 10th and 11th grade hands-on training in the work scientists at the Cancer Research Center do on a daily basis.

The kids get to meet the experts, learn what they do and experiment in a real working lab.

The program director said it’s especially important to get young girls involved and surround them with positive role models.

The latest government stats show women still make up less than 25 percent of the STEM workforce in this country.

“I think across the board there’s more to be done, certainly in the areas of biology,” said Jeanne Chowning, the senior director of science education and training at Fred Hutch.

“There’s a need for more women especially in the field of computational biology and bio-engineering. We are hoping to address that by exposing students to certain careers.”

32 students from across the state are represented in this program, both boys and girls.

“Technology is so advanced and you can use that to help people,” said Amber Carbajal who is from Mariner High School. She said she wants to be an obstetrician.

We also talked to Melody Gebremedhin from Pullman High School. She wants to be a medical director like her mother.

“Seeing the really cool facility and meeting the people here who are doing things I want to do in the future is really inspiring,” said Gebremedhin.

Fred Hutch already offers internships for older high school students and those in college.

Click here for more information on Fred Hutch's HS Pathways Research Explorers Program.

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