University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and affiliated institutions offer numerous high-quality scientific opportunities for high school students seeking to boost their resumes in the new year.

   The UCSD School of Biological Sciences offers a comprehensive checklist for volunteers looking to join a lab. Their website details the steps needed to take in order to get authorized, including meeting with the Biology Department’s Human Resources, completing online safety courses, and acquiring personal protective equipment (biology.ucsd.edu).    

   However, the school does not provide an official way to reach out to laboratories. According to Executive Assistant to the Chair of the Pathology Department Lori Bunch, interested students must contact principal investigators (the lead member of a lab) by themselves. She added that each lab has its own policy and some may not even accept volunteers.

   Senior Alexander “Unts” Clark was a volunteer at a research laboratory at UCSD. He first got this opportunity when he reached out to a friend’s mom who used to work there, who provided him with the contact for Dr. Francesca Telese, a UCSD researcher and associate professor specializing in neurobiology. “I got the contact of Dr. Telese, then I reached out to tell her a little bit about myself and that I wanted to work, and I showed her how I was doing in school,” said Clark.

   Information about laboratories is public, and often each has its own website that includes contact information and details on what they do. UCSD labs can be found by searching for the department they fall under and going to “Research,” then “Faculty” (ucsd.edu).

   Clark said, “This experience was really valuable to me because it put me in the research setting. Being in a lab, seeing how they do experiments, seeing the type of people around there, and learning how to interact with them is very important.”

   Last Summer, Senior Jabze Solomon participated in UCSD’s Academic Connections, an in-person and online program where students take a 3-week course in a subject of their interest. It is offered to high-achieving students who register by June 24 for the online program, and May 27 for the in-person counterpart. They also offer SAT preparation for an additional cost.

   For Solomon, this opportunity was done through Reality Changers, a San Diego-based nonprofit that provides first-generation students with educational opportunities to prepare for college. He said, “I got to do the program through them, and they actually paid for it through a scholarship.”

   “The experience was really beneficial for me, not only because I learned a lot about computer science but also because I got to experience college life even if for a short amount of time,” said Solomon. He added, “The classes were structured like college classes, and we were allowed to use the resources on campus like the library and computer labs. I would one hundred percent recommend the program.”

   UCSD and related institutions in San Diego offer a multitude of programs. On the Salk Institute website, there is the Heithoff-Brody Summer Scholars program, a paid summer internship that introduces high schoolers 16 and up to a researcher experience (salk.edu). According to the UCSD Health website, they take volunteers who assist real health workers in patient care, education, and research (health.ucsd.edu).

   Similar opportunities can be found using the program finder on the UCSD Summer website (summer.ucsd.edu).