Saratoga News
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High school students from Saratoga experience college life
By Michele Tjin
Gone are the days when summer vacation meant lounging around on the couch, at the beach or at the mall. Three teens from Saratoga have just returned from six weeks of university-level research, where they got an early taste of college life and confirmed for themselves that science is where they need to be.
Ashley Chou, Divya Gopinath and Shannon Nguyen were participants at the UC-Davis Young Scholars Program, where motivated high school students work alongside graduate students and professors to conduct research. The appeal of the program, the three girls say, was the chance to pursue a topic in an in-depth manner.
"In biology, everything you learn has an application," Shannon said.
The program attracted hundreds from around California, but only 40 high school students were accepted. Students ranked their interests and were assigned projects based on their rankings.
Shannon, who is weeks away from starting her senior year at Saratoga High School, studied whether aphids were attracted to odors released by genetically modified plants. Plants naturally release odors as a defense mechanism, and one application of this research is to look at relationships between parasites and plants.
"It was inspiring," Shannon, 17, said. "At first, I didn't like plant physiology. I wanted to do genetics when I got there. When I saw [what I got], I thought, 'Oh my God.' But I enjoyed it. It was interesting and a great experience."
For the students, a definite highlight of their Davis experience was living in the dorms. While lab took up eight hours of the day, there was always someone to hang out with in the evenings. In addition, there were weekend field trips to locations such as Bodega Bay and Lake Tahoe.
"This was one of my best experiences," Ashley, 16, said. "I really got to know [the other students]. These are friends I will have for the rest of my life."
Back in Saratoga, Ashley is already missing the collegiate atmosphere, saying she's jealous of those seniors who get to experience dorm life and large lecture halls before she does. As a soon-to-be junior at Saratoga, she's got two more years.
"College gives you so much freedom," she said.
Her six weeks at Davis had a balance of work and play. Initially, she and her peers attended morning lectures, where they were introduced to a variety of topics. At the end of the lecture series, they took a final. When their research concluded, they presented their findings formally to their peers, with a paper and a presentation, much like they would in a symposium.
For her research, Ashley studied whether cat behavior was determined by coat color. The hypothesis was that black cats were friendlier and bolder and that orange cats were more active, but in six weeks, it was tough to come up with anything definitive. Still, the experience was a good introduction for Ashley as to what work in biology is like.
"I'm interested in different aspects of science, like chemistry and physics, but I can't do them all," she said. "I can try a little bit of each."
Rick Pomeroy, the director of the Young Scholars Program, said the students who attend are curious and intelligent.
"These are kids who get noticed when they get to college," he said.
But the Saratoga teens say that they and others they met at Davis aren't necessarily geniuses; they just like learning. It's not about studying every single moment. They also know how to enjoy themselves.
"It's nice to see smart people who can also have fun," said Divya, 16. "It's like nerd camp, but a fun nerd camp."
For her research, Divya looked into whether a specific gene in a particular plant plays a role in the length of the stem in a seedling. Plants respond to both light and their own circadian rhythms, and discovering more about plant genes could help farmers understand their crops better.
"I definitely loved it," Divya said.
Doing demanding academic work during the summer is nothing new for Divya and her peers.
"I go to Lynbrook," she said, where she will be a senior. It's not unheard of to take summer courses at a community college or a university such as Davis, or do an internship, she added.
The remaining days of her summer will be devoted to her required summer reading for her AP government and literature classes, but she said she will be in contact with her summer mentors to find out about the plant research. She said she's sad to have to come back home, but she's already looking ahead.
"I don't think I'll be anxious about college," she said.
The summer may have been rigorous work, but what's work when you found a passion?
