One of ACP’s current juniors, Hiwot Endeshaw, recently landed a summer research internship at the University of Arizona! She will be participating in the KEYS (Keep Engaging Youth in Science) internship for a large part of her summer. The program is an exciting opportunity to research in labs at the University of Arizona with the mentorship of top faculty.

At the end of the program, Hiwot will present her research at a research showcase. As well, she will be able to get three college credits in Molecular and Cellular Biology upon completion of the internship. To learn more about Hiwot’s participation in the KEYS internship, I asked her some questions:

Q1: What will you be researching during the internship?

A1: When I applied for the program, one of the questions was to list the top three choices for fields of study. I selected pharmacology and toxicology as my first choice, though that may not be the lab that I am placed in once the program starts. My second choice was physiology, and my third choice was molecular biology.

Q2: How long is the internship?

A2: The internship is seven weeks long. It starts on June 1st and ends on July 17th.

Q3: What inspired you to participate in the KEYS program?

A3: What attracted me most to this program is the fact that I would gain research experience. Up until this point, I have had no experience in the medical field. Since I hope for that to be my career path, I would like to have some idea of what it would entail. I was also motivated to apply because of how specific the program is. Other summer medical programs that are offered are very general and don’t focus on a certain area of study, but with KEYS, I knew that wouldn’t be the case.

Q4: How does your participation in this program relate to your future career plans?

A4: I originally applied for the program because if I were to have a career in the medical field in the future, it would most likely be as a pharmacist. This program will help me become familiar with what real medical research is like while also exposing me to lab procedures. In addition, I want to find out if the career path that I have planned out is right for me by completely immersing myself in it.

Q5: How else will you be spending your summer vacation?

A5: Considering the fact that I have eight days off for summer break, I don’t plan on doing much other than preparing for the next school year, like completing my summer read and such.

Q6: What are you most looking forward to about the internship?

A6: What I’m most looking forward to is being able to apply what I’ve already learned in my science classes through hands-on learning. Again, I am interested to see if I enjoy pharmacology as much as I think I will. If my future plans change, then I will be glad that participating in the program helped me realize that.

Hiwot’s summer plans are just one example of the many ways that students can get involved over the break. Students who are interested in STEM fields have many options if they would like to spend their summer breaks productively, including volunteering at a hospital, shadowing under a scientific researcher, or tutoring students to prepare them for next year.

Once again, congratulations to Hiwot for earning the KEYS internship and continuing to pursue her interests in the STEM field!