Two Montezuma-Cortez High School seniors were able to get hands-on science experience with renowned institutions across the country as part of the Pinhead Institute’s summer “Pinternship” program.
Lauren Chapell, interned with California-based organic skin care company Erbaviva, and Gage Seaburn interned with Oklahoma State University’s aerodynamics program.
As part of the “Pinternship” the two students are keeping blogs to provide updates on what they’re working on.
According to the blogs, Chappell has gotten experience working in the comestic’s company lab making test sets of products and Seaburn has worked on soldering, 3D printing and drone mechanics.
Telluride-based non-profit, Pinhead Institute, has a long-standing record of placing high-achieving, rising high school seniors in internships at renowned scientific institutions across the country through its summer “Pinternship” program, but this year secured opportunities for its largest “Pintern” class since founding the program in 2003.
“I love that we’re spanning the continent from Harvard on the East Coast and Stanford on the West Coast and that we have some kids working in industry as well as at universities,” said Pinhead’s executive director Sarah Holbrooke in a news release.
Up from eight students in 2014, this year’s class size represents a robust expansion of Pinhead’s flagship program, which provides students with the opportunity to gain practical skills and experience in various fields of study, including math, physics, conservation, chemistry, biology, and more.
“I felt there were easily that number of talented kids who deserved the chance to look at the wide world of science from outside these Four Corners, and I was pretty sure that between Pinhead’s own web of connections and my pushy, outgoing nature I could find placements for all the kids that deserved them,” said Holbrooke.
“The Peter G. Dodge Foundation (PGDF) said they would sponsor a Pintern interested in addiction research; then the Scripps Research Institute, where they’re studying the neuroscience of addiction, said they would take not one but two Pinterns, which we’re absolutely thrilled about,” Holbrooke explained.
PGDF then agreed to double its original $5,000 grant to $10,000 and two students, Kole Shugars of Telluride and Ella White of Ridgway, secured internships.
“This wouldn’t have happened without the support of PGDF and the willing partnership of Scripps,” said Holbrooke. “They answered with a resounding yes when we made the ask and we are thrilled to team up with both fine institutions.”
While every year some interns regard their opportunities as largely exploratory, others are looking to jump-start their future academic studies and careers. One such example is Telluride’s Theo Rolfs, who, after breaking his back and pelvis a few years ago, is interested in spinal research and will intern at the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Institute.
“The doctors told me that most people with my injury never walk again,” he wrote in his letter of intent. “I never want anyone to feel the kind of pain I felt. I never want a child to be told that they will never walk again.”