Marshall University welcomes 120 rising ninth-graders from throughout West Virginia next week for its annual Health Science and Technology Academy (HSTA) “Fun with Science” Summer Institute. The institute opens with a dinner at 5 p.m. Sunday in the Don Morris Room of the Memorial Student Center and continues through Friday, July 14, on Marshall’s Huntington campus.
“All week long, they will be doing hands-on, engaging activities with health, science, math and technology baked in,” said David Cartwright, director of the summer institute and a Computer Science instructor in Marshall’s College of Engineering and Computer Sciences. “These students already have an acclamation to science, math, engineering and technology and we want to expose them to these things in a fun and exciting way.”
HSTA institutes are offered each summer at institutions throughout West Virginia, and HSTA clubs are offered year-round throughout the state for ninth- through 12th-graders. HSTA is a partnership among West Virginia University, Marshall University, West Virginia State University, the West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnership, the West Virginia Area Health Education Centers and many Appalachian communities.
The program brings students — including racial and ethnic minority, rural and/or low-income students — and their teachers to campus during the summer for laboratory, classroom and enrichment activities. Throughout the academic year, the program offers community-based projects mentored by teachers, scientists, health professions students and community volunteers.
Once students have successfully completed their HSTA Club requirements from ninth to 12th grades, notices are sent to universities across the state, notifying admission offices that they are HSTA Scholars and are eligible for the HSTA tuition waiver, as legislated. A student is provided with eight semesters of undergraduate tuition with the HSTA waiver.
It’s great for Marshall, Cartwright said, adding that Marshall has 95 students enrolled who were participants in the HSTA program.
“We have rising ninth-graders who get exposed to Marshall at an early age,” he said. “They stay in the residence halls, meet Marco, work in labs, and are introduced to the faculty. Hopefully, one day when they go to university, they choose Marshall.”
For further information, contact Cartwright by e-mail at david.cartwright@marshall.edu or by phone 304-417-5227.