Newswise — HOUSTON – (July 21, 2016) – When Cindy Salazar was a sophomore in high school and looking for something to do over the summer, she came across a flyer in her chemistry teacher’s classroom. On the flyer was an advertisement for the Rio Grande Valley Summer Science Internship, a program for Hispanic, first generation college-bound students created by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health in Brownsville.
Salazar, a Brownsville native and the first in her family to go to college, eagerly applied and was accepted to the first year of the program in 2006. She spent the next six weeks learning the basics of science and research at UTHealth School of Public Health in Brownsville. She entered data, helped a faculty member compile research reports and taught young children about hygiene and physical activity. Salazar liked the program so much that she came back the next year.
“It really helped me get my feet wet and laid some of the groundwork for what I do now,” said Salazar, who is a doctoral student at the School of Public Health.
During her second year of undergraduate education at Baylor University, as she was mulling over an honors thesis for her pre-medicine program, Salazar realized that the field she really wanted to be in was public health.
“I was panicking over my thesis for the honors program but then I realized that there are other options in science. I remembered what I had done in the internship and how I really liked it,” said Salazar.
She reached out to her contacts at the School of Public Health for advice and was given the opportunity to work with Belinda Reininger, Dr.P.H., professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at UTHealth School of Public Health in Brownsville. When she returned to Baylor after a summer in Brownsville, she wrote her honors thesis on the religious features of folk healing. Salazar is now in the fourth year of her doctorate program at UTHealth and studying the relationship between religion and health. She also coordinates the summer science internship program.
“When you’re told about different career tracks, you hear the same thing – doctor, lawyer, teacher – and it’s not like that. I wouldn’t have known how many career options there are in science were it not for a program like this and mentors like Dr. Reininger,” said Salazar.
The idea for the internship was born in 2003 when Reininger was working with high schools in the Rio Grande Valley to implement a supplementary science curriculum.
“We started talking to youth about their perceptions of science and what might make it more interesting. We heard clearly from the students and teachers that they would be more engaged in science if they had the opportunity to do the work, to see what it meant to be a scientist and have hands-on experience,” said Reininger, who directs the internship program.
With input from Brownsville’s Community Advisory Board, the coordinators decided that the internship program should prioritize Hispanic, first-generation college students and that the opportunities to learn about science should be present at academic health institutions throughout the Rio Grande Valley. Eleven years later, through the program, 126 students have had the opportunity to work in biology, behavioral science, engineering, ecology, exercise science and public health.
Interns are placed with mentors at UTHealth School of Public Health in Brownsville, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio-Harlingen Regional Academic Health Center.
“The mentors and their excitement about their work are what help ignite the passion for science for the next generation. I can’t say enough about these mentors who help year after year to reach out to young people,” said Reininger.
Each year, more than 100 students apply for the 10 internship slots. Ninety-nine percent of interns have completed the program and more than 75 percent of them have gone on to study science, technology, engineering or math in college.
During the internship, each student tests a hypothesis, learns the methods to carry it out and summarizes the results. At the end of the six-week program, they deliver presentations about their research to an audience of more than 100 people. The audience includes the interns’ peers, mentors, families and friends, as well as members of the Community Advisory Board. The current internship class will present to the group on July 28.
Salazar’s is just one of many success stories from the program
“We have so many students who come back years later and say this is what made me know I wanted to be a biologist or a nurse or a researcher,” said Reininger.
For more information on the Rio Grande Valley Summer Science Internship, visit https://rgvssi.wordpress.com/.
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