The Leg Work of Lab Work

Applied Science and Engineering Students Complete Virtual Summer Externships

The St. Paul’s School Applied Science and Engineering Program (ASEP) launched in 2016 as the Engineering Honors Program. Co-created by Physics, Engineering, and Robotics teachers Will Renauld and the recently retired Terry Wardrop ’73, the program was designed to challenge the most eager scientific minds in Millville and expose SPS students to the work being conducted in science labs across the globe. When Wardrop stepped down as director two years ago, Molecular Biology and Chemistry teacher Sarah Boylan took the reins, with Renauld continuing to oversee the engineering and robotics classes.

In her second year as director of the program, Boylan’s excitement has only grown as she continues to learn alongside her students, admitting that they often end up knowing more about particular subjects than she does by the end of the year.

“You’re never bored, or teaching the same thing over and over,” notes Boylan. “You’re learning about the science that’s happening on the cutting edge of research right now. And that’s also what draws new students to the program.”

While the coursework and capstone projects are ASEP’s key elements, the student externships are the program’s focal point. “Being in a lab, meeting people, and working with real scientists, students can truly see themselves in that environment,” says Boylan.

In a typical year, Fifth Form students secure four-week-long summer externships by the end of Winter Term and share their experiences with students and faculty during the following Fall Term. As the pandemic took hold in early March, however, all but one of the externships secured by the students were either canceled or made virtual. It took a bit of extra work from both the students and Boylan, but ultimately, all 12 ASEP students were able to meet their summer externship requirements.

“My externship was very different from any previous research experience I had, especially because we were virtual,” says Ryan Cho ’21, who worked in the Systems Design and Management Lab at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). “Apart from gaining a lot of technical and academic knowledge, I learned a lot about communicating professionally and being a part of a research team with roles and assigned tasks.”

Even though Isabella Pargiolas ’21 had her externship shortened from 10 weeks to the minimum of four, she was able to do in-person work at EXUMA Biotech in West Palm Beach, Fla. “I assisted in the laboratory, specifically with running quantitative Polymerase Chain Reactions (qPCR) and analysis.” The experience taught her the importance of preparation, collaboration, and the reality of how many trials are required for projects to progress. During her externship, she made such a strong impression that this winter, EXUMA brought her back as a temporary part-time employee to assist with cell culture and genomic DNA extraction (when she’s not attending her remote SPS classes, of course).

“You don’t just give up four weeks of your summer to get something on your college application,” says Boylan. “A lot of these kids are interested in becoming scientists, and they’re getting an opportunity to test it out before they even get to college.”

While the ideal scenario is for the students to complete externships in person, the virtual setups proved to have some surprising perks. In a number of cases, thanks to the strong virtual workflows established during the externships, lab supervisors kept in regular contact with students well after the designated end dates. And because the capstone presentations were virtual this year, more than a half-dozen mentors and externship leaders tuned in live for the final presentations.

With 28 Fifth Formers currently doing prep work for the 2022 ASEP, there is no shortage of interest, and Boylan hopes to expand the program both in subjects offered and the number of students accepted. And, with the first class of Engineering Honors students recently graduating from college, Boylan is eager to follow their careers and keep them connected as mentors for this next generation of scientists graduating from St. Paul’s School.

Learn more:
Recaps of externships completed in 2020
ASEP capstone projects