{"305841":{"#nid":"305841","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Expanding Options - Project ENGAGES Student Finds New Posse to Ride With","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe second in a series of stories about Project ENGAGES, which recently began its second year at the Petit Institute.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn his old job, Solomon McBride rarely did anything more challenging than stick groceries in a bag. In his current job, he\u2019s performing experiments in a well-equipped lab, researching the negative effects antiretroviral drugs can have on the cardiovascular systems of HIV patients.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo yeah, the 18-year-old McBride likes his current job way more than his last job. Except, it\u2019s not exactly a job. It\u2019s more like an educational opportunity. And soon, he\u2019ll have to give it up, but that\u2019s good thing, because better things await McBride, a second-year Project ENGAGES student who will start attending Brandeis University near Boston, this fall on a Posse Scholarship. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIf you\u2019ve spent any time at the Parker H. Petit Institute for Biotechnology and Bioscience, chances are good that you\u2019ve seen McBride or his fellow students in Project ENGAGES, a high school education program created through the NSF Science and Technology Center on the Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS, a research center that is supported and resides in the Petit Institute). \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EDeveloped last year at the Georgia Institute of Technology in partnership with Coretta Scott King Young Women\u0027s Leadership Academy and B.E.S.T Academy, two minority-serving public high schools in the City of Atlanta, the program aims to serve \u201ca community of children who did not see themselves as belonging or fitting in with a place like Georgia Tech,\u201d according to Lakeita Servance, who oversees Project ENGAGES as the EBICS\u2019 (and Petit Institute\u2019s) education outreach manager. \u201cWe\u2019re also introducing students to a broader field of science. Studying biology doesn\u2019t mean that you can only be a doctor, so this program demonstrates that you can do a number of different things, that you have choices and options.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd McBride, who recently graduated from the B.E.S.T. Academy, likes his expanded options. He\u2019d been thinking along the lines of careers in film, or economics, but after more than a year studying and working in Manu Platt\u2019s lab he says, \u201cscience is wide open. I always liked science, but doubted myself, so I was hesitant. But now I feel like research is definitely something I want to do, and the experience here has given me a foundation for the college experience. I understand the mindset it takes now.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EDuring the school year, students involved in Project ENGAGES who are on the biotechnology track (like McBride) commit to working 12 to 15 hours a week in a Georgia Tech bio lab (there is also now an engineering track, developed under the leadership of the Georgia Tech Research Institute). During the summer, it goes up to 40 hours a week. Students are paid $9 an hour for their time \u2013 time they otherwise would have spent bagging groceries or flipping burgers, probably. So there is a sense not only of working for a grade, but actually producing results in the lab, helping to make hands on discoveries. That\u2019s what hooked McBride, who also appreciates the commitment of his mentors and lab partners (undergrads, PhD students, post-docs, etc.). \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWe get a wage, so it\u2019s a job that we take seriously,\u201d McBride says. \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s not easy to have a bunch of high school students in your labs, but they\u2019ve given us responsibilities, they treat us like adults. There\u2019s a sense of importance to what we\u2019re doing, and you have to get it right. You learn it. And you get the hands on experience, working with the equipment, doing the experiments. You see the cause and effect. You make the connections. It all comes together.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMcBride comes from a family that places a high value on a college education, so his academic pursuits are grounded, to some degree, close to the heart. He has three older sisters who have set an inspirational pace. One graduated from Howard University, another from Swarthmore, and another is going to art school in Chicago. So, McBride is carrying on a bit of the family tradition, and when he gets to Boston, he\u2019ll be a much more confident version of himself. Part of that is the Project ENGAGES experience, but the deeper source comes from his time at the B.E.S.T. Academy. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI started there in the sixth grade, the first class at the school,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you asked me then, I\u2019d have said, \u2018get me out of here right now!\u2019 But looking back, it was a great experience, partly due to the challenges a new school faces. You\u2019re a startup, learning how to stand on your feet, and you face many problems, you know, like growing pains. You go through that and you get a sense of resilience that you\u2019re going to need throughout life.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHe showed plenty of resilience through an extensive Posse Scholar recruitment process \u2013 about 1,200 students in the Atlanta region applied for the 61 scholarships that were ultimately awarded. The scholarships come from the 25-year-old Posse Foundation, a U.S. non-profit organization that identifies, recruits and trains students with academic and leadership potential. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe scholars are then organized in supportive, often multicultural teams (or, \u201cposses\u201d of 10 students) comprised of students from the same city, and Posse Foundation partner colleges and universities award four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships. Then, for eight months before beginning their college careers, the Posse Scholars attend weekly pre-collegiate training meetings, getting to know the members of their posse, and generally preparing for the academic, social and personal challenges ahead. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGetting through the door involved three rounds of interviews. Before the first round, McBride asked Bob Nerem, founding director of the Petit Institute who co-founded Project ENGAGES with assistant professor Manu Platt last year, to write a letter of recommendation \u2013 students are asked to supply this, and typically it comes from one of their high school teachers. The first question\u0026nbsp;McBride got from the first interviewer was, How in the world did get a letter from a Georgia Tech professor? The answer is, Project ENGAGES. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMcBride has met with his posse weekly since finding out he won the scholarship in December. They\u2019re all Atlanta kids and all are African-American, which is a first for Posse, which serves (and has offices in) nine U.S. cities, and strives for a diverse collection of scholars. Project ENGAGES also puts a premium on diversity, integrating its group of entirely African-American high school students with the wide-ranging cultural melting pot that is the Petit Institute. So, McBride was a little surprised when he first met his monochromatic posse. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cIt was weird at first, but then you get to know your posse and you realize that diversity doesn\u2019t just mean skin color,\u201d McBride ways. \u201cMy posse is made up of people from entirely different backgrounds, people with completely different life experiences, whether from an economic or family standpoint or otherwise.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHe expects the lessons of integrative communities to continue at Brandeis, and he is open minded about the educational possibilities, which he believes, like science, are wide open. McBride isn\u2019t sure yet what he\u2019ll major in, but he\u2019s certain it will be related to scientific research. In the short term, however, he knows exactly what he wants to be: the next John Ewing. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EEwing, an undergrad at Vanderbilt University, where he also stars on the cross-country team, has been working in Nerem\u2019s lab the past four summers. So, Ewing\u2019s summertime role has evolved with the infusion of high school students in Petit Institute labs. There were 10 students in the first Project ENGAGES biotech class last year, all of whom returned to 40-hour status this summer, plus 10 new students on the biotech track, who began the summer session with a boot camp, and have only recently moved into labs. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cBoot camp is a lot to get through, but once they get in the lab, they start putting it all together, and that\u2019s my favorite part,\u201d says Ewing, a rising senior at Vanderbilt who grew up in Atlanta and plans to go to medical school. \u201cYou see how they react once they are paired with their mentors, you see the change between that first day, when research mentors present their projects, to the last day, when the high school students present their projects. They\u2019ve gone from not really knowing what\u2019s going on to being able to present and own a piece of a research project. That\u2019s a really cool transformation.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt\u2019s a transformation he\u2019s had a guiding hand in. Ewing helps organize the students, gives talks on cell biology, helps the kids with their research presentations \u2013 an all-around utility player with a friendly ear for the high school kids who are really just a few years younger than he is. And as an Atlanta guy who comes home every year and brings something back to the Georgia Tech community, he\u2019s set an example for McBride, who envisions coming back to the Petit Institute to fill a similar kind of mentor\u2019s role. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cJohn has had a huge impact on the program, and on me,\u201d says McBride. \u201cNot just for the four weeks of boot camp, but through the summer. I\u2019m not sure he realizes it, but the example he sets, his dedication and support, is something we all admire. So yeah, I do want to be the next John Ewing. That would be pretty cool.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"The second in a series of stories about Project ENGAGES, in its second year at the Petit Institute."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe second in a series of stories about Project ENGAGES, in its second year at the Petit Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The second in a series of stories about Project ENGAGES, in its second year at the Petit Institute."}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2014-06-30 09:23:36","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:41","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-06-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-06-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"305831":{"id":"305831","type":"image","title":"Project ENGAGES student, Solomon McBride","body":null,"created":"1449244668","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:57:48","changed":"1475895015","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:15","alt":"Project ENGAGES student, Solomon McBride","file":{"fid":"199722","name":"solomon_mcbride.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/solomon_mcbride_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/solomon_mcbride_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":647552,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/solomon_mcbride_0.jpg?itok=WwhUnVfD"}},"305851":{"id":"305851","type":"image","title":"John Ewing, undergraduate mentor to Project ENGAGES student, Solomon McBride","body":null,"created":"1449244668","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:57:48","changed":"1475895015","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:15","alt":"John Ewing, undergraduate mentor to Project ENGAGES student, Solomon McBride","file":{"fid":"199723","name":"mcbride_and_ewing.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mcbride_and_ewing_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mcbride_and_ewing_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1402074,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/mcbride_and_ewing_0.jpg?itok=kvFMuRNq"}}},"media_ids":["305831","305851"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/projectengage.gatech.edu\/","title":"Project ENGAGES website"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126581","name":"go-ProjectEngages"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for \u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering \u0026amp; Biosciencer\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}