MADE in SC | SC EPSCoR

Twelve high school students spent five weeks in the lab this summer conducting research at and living on the campus of Claflin University, funded in part by MADE in SC’s Scientific Advocate Network (SAN) program and institutional funds from SC INBRE.

In addition to learning how to conduct research, students also participated in a brand new pilot program. Through a partnership with the South Carolina Afterschool (SCAA) and support from the STEM Next Opportunity Fund and the C. S. Mott Foundation, high school students in South Carolina attending the Summer Biomedical/Biomaterials High School Research Program at Claflin University were the first in the state to earn College and Career Digital Badges. The College and Career Digital Badges will encourage students to make progress towards fulfilling the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. The SCAA will assess how well students have mastered characteristics, knowledge, or skills and classify their level of mastery as emerging, developing, or exemplar. When a student reaches the exemplar level for any skill, knowledge, or characteristic, they will receive a Pathway Badge. They are on the path to college and career readiness. Once a student has earned all of the Pathway Badges for World Class Skills, they will acquire its Destination Badge. Similarly for Life and Career Characteristics and World Class Knowledge, once a student earns all of the Pathway Badges, they earn the culminating Destination Badge. Students meet the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate when they hold all three of the Destination Badges.

“When we were presented with this opportunity we could not think of a better HBCU to partner with. Claflin’s STEM programs are stellar and there are many opportunities for high school students to immerse themselves in research, and learn the Claflin culture. We anticipate this program being duplicated around the state and the nation”, says Zelda Quiller-Waymer, Executive Director of the SC Afterschool Alliance.

“Because of the summer research internship, my son Clifton now wants to come to Claflin for college and major in biochemistry so that he can follow his grandfather and father’s footsteps of being a medical doctor,” says parent Sheera Disher Yates.

The partnership with SCAA is aligned with Claflin's Career Pathway Initiative.

SC State has expressed much gratitude to SC EPSCoR and SC INBRE for making funds available to be able to give the 12 high school students an opportunity to live and research on campus alongside of undergraduate and graduate students and mentored by faculty conducting real research and learning about career paths they may not have thought were possible and learning skills they thought would not ever be able to them.

Learn more about the participants in the BR-SIP: click here to download PDF of Research Symposium Abstract Booklet and view photos from the Research Symposium and Awards banquet below.