Frederick County Public School students have a unique opportunity—a chance to get a real-world, hands-on experience in biomedical science and biotechnology before they even graduate from high school, thanks to the Frederick County Career and Technology Center (CTC). Several years ago, the CTC established its biomedical sciences program with a curriculum from Project Lead the Way, a nonprofit, nationwide developer of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in elementary, middle, and high schools.

“The future depends on what you do today.” Those wise words were spoken by Mahatma Gandhi. Before I started my Werner H. Kirsten (WHK) student internship, I did not know what I know now. I only knew what each of Gandhi’s words meant individually. I now understand the full meaning of the phrase. To me, Gandhi’s words mean that nothing in life is handed to you. You have to work hard today to get the results you want tomorrow.

Did you know that volunteers in the Elementary Outreach Program (EOP) just might be happier than their coworkers who don’t volunteer?

On July 31, NCI at Frederick hosted Student Poster Day, an annual event in which student interns can showcase the work they do in their various positions in NCI at Frederick labs and offices. Participating students are interns in the Student Internship Program, a program designed for undergraduate and graduate students during their summer breaks, as well as interns in the Werner H. Kirsten Student Internship Program, a program for high school seniors.

Failure isn’t just a possibility, it is a certainty; yet failure is what leads you to success. Above all else, that is what I will retain from my experience in the Werner H. Kirsten Student Intern Program.