The Young Scientist Program (YSP) at Washington University in St. Louis Email Formats

About The Young Scientist Program (YSP) at Washington University in St. Louis

The Young Scientist Program (YSP) was started in 1991 and is organized and run by graduate student volunteers from Washington University in St. Louis. YSP aims to attract students to scientific careers and increase the participation of underrepresented groups in science by bringing resources and scientists directly to teachers and students. YSP runs four core programs, including (1) Summer Focus, (2) Teaching Teams, (3) Teaching Kits and (4) Continuing Mentoring. The Summer Focus program provides rising high school seniors with a paid, intensive summer research internship, where students complete their own original research project. Many Summer Focus scholars choose to remain in science and major in a STEM field in college and several have pursued graduate education. Teaching Teams are composed of small groups of volunteers who lead hands-on science demonstrations and lessons in area classrooms or during field trips to Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) campus, supplementing curricula in Physics, Chemistry, Ecology, Evolution, Forensics, Genetics, Genomics, Microbiology, Neuroscience, and Anatomy. Students participating in Teaching Team events demonstrate considerable increase in desire to pursue further science education and scientific careers. Teaching Kits provide hands-on science experiments “in-a-bag” which can be facilitated by teachers, regardless of their scientific background. They are currently being rigorously evaluated with a focus on developing impactful science tools addressing science education standards for St. Louis teachers. Continuing Mentoring (CM) is YSP’s newest addition. CM is a four year mentorship program for high school students currently enrolled in Soldan or Collegiate School of Medicine and Biosciences (CSMB). We pair freshman high school students with WashU graduate students. High school students and their mentors meet bi-weekly at the schools to engage in science activities or college preparation.

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