To connect middle and high school students to a possible career in science, El Nido Family Centers partnered with Bioscience Los Angeles County Inc. (Bioscience LA) and LA Mission College to provide teens with a hands-on college lab experience.
This partnership program, called “Sparks,” is meant to stimulate interest in bioscience careers and accelerated local certification programs, particularly among youth from disadvantaged communities where STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs are not readily available.
About a dozen students, between eighth and 11th grade, came to Mission College on April 18 from schools in the Northeast Valley, including San Fernando High, César Chávez Learning Academies, Monroe High and Nobel Middle School. All of the students were already enrolled in one of the nonprofit’s programs, including the Gang Reduction & Youth Development (GRYD) program or the FamilySource Center in Pacoima.
Liz Herrera, CEO of El Nido Family Centers, said that Mission College has great certification programs that can allow students to transition into a career that doesn’t require a four-year degree. She recognized that not every student is able to pursue that path due to a variety of reasons, but this collaboration is to increase awareness of these pathways that are available to them and are more viable.
“We want to expose young people to this while they’re in middle and high school so they recognize that this is a career that’s available [with] a very high rate of employment after just two semesters of credentials,” Herrera said. “You don’t need to be this incredibly straight-A math and science student to be able to be successful and get a credential in this field.”
During this lab experience, the students could conduct live experiments, including extracting DNA and examining genetic material under a microscope with the guidance of Mission College students.
Dan Witzling, COO of Bioscience LA, said they started their organization in 2018 to create a more cohesive life sciences ecosystem in the Greater LA region. They talk to science companies, including Grifols, Amgen and Takeda, about the ideal skill sets they look for in recruits, and then work with community colleges to adjust their curriculum accordingly.
He estimated that at least 60% of the whole workforce in biosciences in LA does not require a four-year degree, so their work is to help smooth the pathways towards that industry. Sparks is a practical way, he said, for youth who think that STEM isn’t for them to see what it’s really about and show them that this is a path they can pursue.
“This is not a program … for people who are already engaged in science,” Witzling said. “These are people who are open to the idea [but] didn’t necessarily see themselves involved in [this field.] I think what we’ve seen, hands down, is that everybody is finding that this makes sense. They can relate to it. They can see themselves doing it. It’s up to them what they want to do.
“We have a saying, ‘If you see it, you could be it,’ and it’s important to see … people in their 20s, just out of college, that are from LA, working in these companies so we have youth that see people a little bit older than them doing careers,” he continued. “It really opens their eyes, and so, we’ve had, I think, tremendous success in that regard.”
Professor Chander Arora, biotechnology program director at Mission College, was present as the students conducted their experiments. She stressed the importance of getting students interested in science while they’re young, as the field can feel more intimidating as they grow older.
She added that Mission College has a stackable certificate program, meaning after one semester of training, students can get hired while continuing their education. And those same students are the ones who guided the middle and high schoolers during their lab experiments.
“It’s a full circle that we are going,” Arora said. “They can see there is a pathway in front of them. High school is not the end of it. They can come to college, they can find a job in the industry, put their foot in the door and still continue their education.”
This is the first cohort of students in the Sparks program – there are only two groups: one in Pacoima and the other in South LA – who went to Compton College.
The first day was a workshop with both youth and their parents, followed by a lab day. The next step for the students is to tour Xencor, a biopharmaceutical company based in Pasadena that develops antibodies and cytokines, small proteins, to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.
One of those students is Luis Laparra, a 17-year-old junior from San Fernando High. He and his family were part of El Nido’s programs, and his mom, who still goes to workshops, told him about the Sparks program.
While interested in science as a kid, Laparra wasn’t sure about pursuing it as a career. But after spending some time in the Sparks program, seeing the pathways available to him and getting hands-on lab experience, he has an idea of what he may want to do in the future.
“I’m really interested in the science field after these classes,” Laparra said. “I’m thinking about being maybe a science teacher one day.”