Like many Werner H. Kirsten student interns, Allison Kang didn’t know what to expect when she made the transition from the carefully managed environment of her high school science labs to a professional cancer lab at one of the nation’s premier research facilities. Kang had just finished her junior year at Urbana High School when she began working in the Neutrophil Monitoring Laboratory under Debbie Long Priel and Doug Kuhns, Ph.D. And it didn’t take long for her to realize that there were big differences between her school’s A.P. Biology lab and a working scientific research lab.

To say Cathy Cullen’s “lab” in Building 427 is nontraditional would be a bit of an understatement. Instead of pipettes, there are pipe cleaners. The chemical reactants are baking soda and lemon juice. And the “animal” is a blue plastic robotic mouse. Cullen’s operation is the epicenter of Education Outreach Services in the Office of Scientific Operations for NCI at Frederick. She is tasked with bringing extracurricular science to young people in Frederick County Public Schools and local organizations.

The recent Werner H. Kirsten student poster day gave NCI at Frederick and Frederick National Laboratory high school interns a chance to showcase their work to peers, colleagues, and anybody else who passed through the Building 549 lobby, with research spanning microscopy, mutagenesis, and social media. As the second poster presentation that students give—the first occurs in the summer, shortly after the internships begin—the winter event often feels like a “capstone” to the year-long internship. With that in mind, several interns reflected on their experiences.

In a few months, a new class of Werner H. Kirsten student interns will join NCI at Frederick. The eager high schoolers will set to work in labs and offices around campus, gaining unique hands-on experience in fields ranging from immunology to occupational safety. But before that happens, there’s the nail-biting interview process.

Each summer, dozens of students from the Werner H. Kirsten and Summer Internship Programs who have been hard at work under the supervision of seasoned scientists and mentors gather to share their research with the NCI at Frederick and Frederick National Laboratory community. Over two days in late July, 46 students ranging from high school to graduate school presented their findings to mentors, scientists, and their fellow interns at the NCI at Frederick campus and the Advanced Technology Research Facility.