GOSH Podcast
GOSH Podcast
Season 5 Episode 1: Voices from the seed2STEM Program: Part I
Welcome to the first episode of Season 5! We kick off the new season by exploring the experiences of students from the seed2STEM program, the Summer Research Program for Indigenous Youth. It offers paid internships that offer Indigenous youth hands-on opportunities in scientific research. We hear from Shana, Caty and Catalina as they share their journeys working in gynecologic cancer research labs. Whether you're interested in science or looking for inspiration, this episode highlights the power of opportunity and growth through mentorship and education.
Shana George - student at Huntsman lab
Caty Janze - student at Hanley lab
Catalina Claxton - student at Hanley lab
Resources:
seed2STEM program website - https://icord.org/seed2STEM/
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For more information on the Gynecologic Cancer Initiative, please visit https://gynecancerinitiative.ca/ or email us at info@gynecancerinitiative.ca
Where to learn more about us:
Twitter – @GCI_Cluster
Instagram – @gynecancerinitiative
Facebook – facebook.com/gynecancerinitiative
For more information on the Gynecologic Cancer Initiative, please visit https://gynecancerinitiative.ca/ or email us at info@gynecancerinitiative.ca
Where to learn more about us:
Twitter – @GCI_Cluster
Instagram – @gynecancerinitiative
Facebook – facebook.com/gynecancerinitiative
TikTok – @gci_gosh
00:00:54 Almira
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Gosh podcast. Today we are interviewing students of seed to seed2STEM program, seed2STEM program is a Vancouver and Okanagan based program. It's a paid internships in science in the field of science for indigenous use for high school students and for undergraduate students too. So today we're interviewing Shana George. She is one of those, one of the seed2STEMs students.
So, Shana, how are you feeling today?
00:01:30 Shana
I’m feeling tired. But I'm also really happy because all the posters are done and then the poster sessions on Friday and I'm excited for that because we get to see all the students.
00:01:44 Almira
So how did seed2STEM affected your creative choices if it did at all.
00:01:50 Shana
When I really wanted to be a doctor, but I really enjoying research like just be able to help people, but also like the doctors still in my mind. But I've really been enjoying research
00:02:07 Almira
You could do both.
00:02:09 Shana
Yeah, I could do it only PhD
00:02:10 Almira
Yes, there is the thing like that. If you really feeling yet.
So, would you do this program again?
00:02:19 Shana
Yeah, I would.
00:02:21 Almira
I mean, you've been doing it for five years. So, I think, yeah.
00:02:25 Shana
I would for sure do it in ……..
00:02:29 Almira
Shana and I work in the data ……
00:02:33 Shana
Because I thought it was so cool that he was a person who identified that there's cancer and it's in the medical textbooks, which is really cool.
00:02:44 Almira
Yeah, people learning at school.
00:02:46 Shana
And my friends like when I told them I was going to working here, because they were here for like of the year or something, I think in Terry Fox, stop.
00:02:57 Shana
And then like, oh, David Hudson's a really big name. Oh, wow. I didn't really know.
00:03:01 Almira
Right. Yeah. Here's in gyne cancer space and ovarian cancer space. Yes, the lab is really multifaceted. We have a different, like researchers. You probably heard from others. You will be hearing from other students too, yeah, we the lab and the class that actually focuses on different parts on the journey of like translational research, clinical trials, quality of life improvement research is a lot of things. A lot of things to do in here. So, I think that would be our last question. What advice would you give to the future students? You are I think one of the most the longest students here, so.
00:03:55 Shana
I think for students who are coming back to, if you like, want to try new love, that's OK because it's like you're also like expanding your network and it's OK to try new things. And even if, like you're scared, it's OK because I'm gonna do this job. I was like, oh, my gosh. Like. I've never done like I haven't done tissue culture or anything. I was like, really scared to go into that because I know how, like delicate it is. So, I thought it was like. But then I enjoyed it the entire time. So that's for coming for students coming back. And for new students try to like ask questions a lot and yeah, expanding network because it's like I think it's really valuable to like to know all these people, especially like when you come later on in your career because you have all these connections with all these intelligent, really nice and smart people.
00:05:05 Almira
It also would look on your resume.
00:05:07 Shana
Yeah
00:05:08 Almira
Look good and you get paid. And it's really nice. Yeah.
00:05:16 Shana
This is like the only place I've ever worked like for this program like I also work in admin for a bit yeah so.
00:05:23 Almira
Yeah, it's great. OK. Yeah. Thank you, Shanna.
00:05:27 Almira
That was really interesting. And it's really nice to hear the first-hand experience and you will be the one who will be interviewing the next students. So, yeah, we'll hear more from Shanna afterwards, right?
00:05:44 Shana
Thank you
00:05:48 Shana
Hi, I’m Shana and this is the gosh podcast. So, what's your name?
00:05:50 Caty
Kate
00:05:51 Shana
So, what year of high school are you in?
00:05:53 Caty
I just graduated.
00:05:55 Shana
Are you excited?
00:05:57 Caty
Yes, I am
00:06:01 Shana
Do you planning go to the post-secondary?
00:06:04 Caty
I'm going to Douglas College next year.
00:06:05 Shana
Oh wow, nice. So how do you feel about your poster presentation?
00:06:09 Caty
I feel a little nervous generally like I Know what I'm doing. Yeah, I feel like I learned a lot and I'm excited to share what I've learned.
00:06:15 Shana
Yeah, sure. So how did you hear about this seed2STEM program?
00:06:24 Caty
One of the indigenous education teachers at my school came and brought an application for it to one of my classes and encouraged me to join.
00:06:33 Shana
Yeah, pretty good. So, it's your first time doing programming?
00:06:35 Caty
Yes
00:06:36 Shana
What made you decide to join the program?
00:06:45 Caty
I think I liked that it was trying to make science more accessible because I've always liked science, but I haven't done well in science classes and I liked, you know, that it was an opportunity to learn more about science that I wasn't being graded on and also that I was getting paid for. I thought that was cool.
00:07:10 Shana
Yeah, for sure. What did you expect when you joined to this program.
00:07:15 Caty
I kind of expected it to be more stressful. Because I thought that it was like a really good opportunity, and I thought that I would be expected to know more than I did and to do more than I'd be able to do and that was not the case.
00:07:33 Shana
Yeah, for sure. What activities and field trips did you find most interesting?
00:07:39 Caty
I really liked being able to tour the hospital and kind of see how things worked.
00:07:44 Shana
I thought the hospital really cool. Yeah, it was cool to see how it like. Yeah, how it all works out. And like the screening rooms and like the post office rooms. So, what lab did you worked in.
00:07:57 Caty
I worked in ………
00:08:04 Shana
What was your project about?
00:08:06 Caty
My project was about maternal autoimmune diseases and offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes. It was part of amenities PhD thesis. So, basically, she's performing the literature review to find gaps in research in that area, and I was reading some of that research and formatting the data for
00:08:30 Shana
So, what were your responsibilities for your project?
00:08:37 Caty
Amanda would send me a list of articles to read, and I would go through them and find out, you know, who wrote them, how many participants were in the studies? What like the boundaries of the studies were and what the findings were basically, so just kind of a lot of sitting at computers and sorting data, which is the kind of stuff I enjoy.
00:09:07 Shana
Especially I mean learning how to read research papers.
So, what was your favorite part about the program?
00:09:21 Caty
I think just getting the opportunity to kind of follow my curiosity when it came to science, I think like just because of the nature of what my job was, It was fairly self-directed, and it was nice to be able to just have questions and have resources to figure them out for myself or to ask people about them and to just kind of organically learn more about science and particularly medical science, which isn't something that I thought that I would have been interested in
00:09:54 Shana
How do you think the seed2STEM program affected your career choices if it
00:10:02
I mean, I don't know if I'm like kind of go to medical school and become a doctor. But I do feel like I know a lot more than I did before, and I'm interested in medical science a lot more than I was before and. So, you know I'm young, I don't know where it's going to end up, but that's kind of a door that I didn't even know was there that now was like open a crack.
00:10:34 Shana
Yeah, it’s really good that the seed2STEM program does that for a lot of people who are just like in high school or just graduating, it's a really good opportunity. Would you do this program again? Why or why not?
00:10:42 Caty
I think, I would. Because it's just it's been a lot of fun and it's been very opening and welcoming, and it just feels like everybody wants you to be there and wants you to have something valuable that you take away from it. And I think it's a program where they don't make you feel like you're a kid, you know, like you don't a lot of things coming out of high school, people just kind of expect you to be stupid and I don't think that's the case. I think there's a lot of respect and everybody just kind of wants to give you the best they can.
00:11:23 Shana
Yeah, for sure. What advice do you have for future students?
00:10:42 Caty
Do seed2STEM. Do it, give it a go.
00:11:44 Shana
Ok, thank you.
00:11:37 Shana
Hi, I'm Shanna and this is the gosh podcast. What's your name?
00:11:50 Catalina
I'm Catalina.
00:11:51 Shana
How are you feeling today?
00:11:52 Catalina
I'm feeling pretty good.
00:11:53 Shana
Good. What year of high school are you in?
00:11:54 Catalina
You in I'm in grade 10 going into 11.
00:11:56 Shana
That's exciting. So how did you hear about the seed2STEM program?
00:11:59 Catalina
I heard about it through my indigenous youth worker, counselor and she just thought that I'd be a good fit
00:12:06 Shana
That’s good. Yeah. That's how I found out about the program, too. Is it your first time doing the program?
00:12:15 Catalina
yeah.
00:12:16 Shana
What made you decide to join the program?
00:12:22 Catalina
Getting paid and I thought it was a good like kind of work experience.
00:12:26 Shana
Yeah. For sure. What did you expect when you joined the program?
00:12:33 Catalina
I didn't really expect anything. I went into I t kind of blind just knowing that I'd be doing some science stuff during the summer, yeah.
00:12:41 Shana
What activities and field trips did you find that you interested in?
00:12:45 Catalina
Kind of interesting. When we went to the biomedical museum
00:12:48 Shana
biodiversity
00:12:53 Catalina
Yeah, that one. Yeah, I found it interesting because there were so many like artifacts like there was something that anyone could like there.
00:13:02 Shana
Yeah, yeah, for sure. It was really cool I've been there one other time before, but it's just such a cool museum good. So, what lab did you work in?
00:13:14 Catalina
The OV care lab and in that lab, I researched ovarian cancer and opportunistic salpingectomy(?) I still don't know how to say it, but that's where you take out one or both of the fallopian tubes to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer.
00:13:34 Catalina
Oh, yeah. So how do you feel about your poster presentation?
00:13:46 Catalina
I feel OK about it. I'm just more worried about blanking out during the presentation.
00:13:47 Shana
Yes, it's all good. It's for practice. Then it's good experience to like to be able to present in front of people. And it's really good. Like it's good for like post-secondary too or like even just like the real world, like just being able to like talk for users.
What were your responsibilities for the project?
00:14:10 Catalina
I had to make to do lists on what I'm going to do on a daily basis, go through articles and what they're cited by their references and all of that to find which countries are going to do opportunistic salpingectomy. But it was the same every day, just read articles
00:14:35 Shana
Yeah, I did that too. It is really good like to learn how to, like read articles though, like it's like this especially like within like the STEM career too. It's like you will be able to like to say your sources and learn how to like read articles for you.
What was your favorite part about the program?
00:14:59 Catalina
Designing the poster, yeah, definitely.
00:15:03 Shana
Yeah, for sure. How did the seed2STEM program affect your choices? If it did? I mean, career choices.
00:15:11 Catalina
I thought before I couldn't just sit in an office and like do all the office stuff, but it made me realize that I could just it depends on what I'm doing.
00:15:26 Shana
Yeah. Would you do this program again?
00:15:33 Catalina
I would because you get paid, and you learn a lot. Like a lot I didn't expect to be able to talk about stuff like a nerd. Yeah, I would recommend it to a Lot of people
00:15:52 Shana
What do you think what your favorite thing you learned was?
00:15:55 Catalina
Just overall, how ovarian cancer starts.
00:16:00 Shana
Yeah. Yeah, for sure, it's really cool. Yeah.
I think it's like so amazing that, like, things like this like we're working for here.
00:16:09 Shana
What advice do you have for future students?
00:16:13 Catalina
Have a set to do list like a schedule every day so you know what you're doing. If not, it could be super unorganized, and you just go in and just sit there and you're like, what would I do? Nobody's going to tell you what you have to do.
00:16:33 Shana
Yeah, for sure. Ok, thank you.