REFLECTIONS ON ADDING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO OUR RESEARCH TEAMComing into UCI, I knew little about what a researcher does. I also knew little about what I wanted to do as a career. It might’ve been because I was the first one in my family to go to college. So, things like career options, research, and university life seemed like a stranger. Slowly, I began to become more intrigued with education and becoming a teacher. I wanted to be able to share the knowledge that I have gained over the years of being an undergraduate student, and help students like me. For this reason, I was excited about us forming a High School Educational Researcher Club at two local high schools. We decided to go into these schools in order to not only motivate and empower students to pursue careers in science, but for them to help us gather their peers and friends’ perspectives about science. We wanted students to identify as researchers themselves and feel like they too belong in career fields in science. We also wanted students to take this opportunity to ask us questions about college, and utilize us as resources when applying to college. This all led me to sitting across from Gabriela* in our first educational research meeting with the high school students. As we were asking questions to get to know interesting facts about each other, she asked me about my experience in UCI and how much I liked it or whether or not it was difficult for me to adjust to the campus. Our interaction didn’t last long due to the time constraint of a lunch club, but I was able to learn that she wanted to go to UCI as well. I left that day, glad that I had interacted with her for a few minutes, and hoping that she would come back to me with questions. For our next group meeting, only a few students came. However, instead of looking at it negatively, we focused on how it affected two of the students that did show up. They were able to share their ideas with us, and we were able to work with them one on one. Luis* was able to tell us the kind of people that he would want to interview which consisted of the majority of his friends. The second student, Miriam*, was also very vocal in coming up with the questions that they can ask their family members and peers. It was a moment in which they had a much greater voice to share, and slowly we can recruit more students or combine them with another class. But, I am glad that we are able to focus on students who want to be there. When I came into college, I had little knowledge with research, so being able to provide students with an early experience on what it is like to be a researcher will hopefully intrigue students to become familized with what we do. Whatever the outcome might be, it will be interesting to see how their interest changes in the beginning of the club to the end of it. *All student names are pseudonyms Diana Isely Pablo-RamirezUndergraduate Research Assistant
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