Shoreline students attend 'Hutch High' - an innovative science symposium for high school students

Shorewood students are shown participating in a DNA spooling activity with strawberries. Isolating and analyzing DNA is a key technique used by scientists for a variety of genetic analyses. 

From left, Malik Drammeh, Hutch High volunteer Naina Phadais, Shelby Summa, and Alyssia Psomos. Shorewood students were accompanied by school counselor William Sugden (not pictured). Photo courtesy Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Approximately 250 high school science students and their teachers had an enlightening look into some of the world’s leading research labs at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, as Hutchinson Center labs turned into classrooms on November 10, 2011.

High schoolers from across the state attended Hutch High, an innovative half-day science symposium. Included among them were students from Shorewood High School, and Shoreline Christian in Shoreline, and Mountlake Terrace High School and Cedar Park Christian School in Mountlake Terrace.

Most of the students are 10th graders who might not otherwise have the firsthand opportunity to see inside the world of biomedical science.

Shoreline Christian students spooling DNA.
Photo courtesy Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Shoreline Christian students isolating and spooling DNA included Alex Werkhoven, Abby DeKoekkoek, and Reid Crichton, accompanied by teacher Fred Van Hal.

Students isolated and spooled DNA, learned the art of micropipetting, and used a germ-revealing black light to test their skills at hand washing. 

Hutch High also involves tours of working laboratories and presentations from Hutchinson Center scientists about sickle cell disease, human genetics, and how our immune systems function.

There is no cost to the schools as the program is made possible by funding from the Michael Miyauchi Foundation.

At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Center researchers, including three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for health, knowledge and hope to their work and to the world.