WCMC-Q Program Gives High School Students an Edge on Science

Students and faculty gather at the closing event for the Adopt a School
program.

Around 30 students from six local high schools recently completed a three-weekend course at WCMC-Q designed to help them develop their interest and skills in science. The Adopt a School program comprised biology, physics and chemistry workshops as well as focused English-writing modules.

“The students were really engaged and the schools appreciated it very much,” said Noha Saleh, Director of Student Recruitment at WCMC-Q.

The participant schools were chosen based on the number of students they have sent to WCMC-Q in the past. Around half of them were Qatari, Saleh said, and of those all were top performers in the fields of math and science.

Through discussions with the schools’ leadership, and Adopt a School organizers found the three areas where local students were still in need of experience—hands-on laboratory skills, English writing skills and understanding the link between basic science and medicine—and based the weekend workshops on these needs.

As a result, students hailing from Qatar Academy, Al Bayan School, Gulf English School, Omar Bin Al Khattab, International School of Choueifat and Debakey School of Health Sciences attended lectures and hands-on labs in the areas of physics, chemistry and biology. They were also involved in English essay writing, research writing and laboratory writing skills workshops over the three weekends.

“We need to have some kind of consistent connection with the top students who are academically fit to go into our program,” Saleh said. “Additionally, I think one of the value adds from this program is the interaction with real students and faculty—our students serve as teaching assistants during this program and members of our faculty and admissions department worked with the students as well. They also got a sense of the facilities we have to offer.”

On the program’s last day, students gathered, along with university and area high school faculty, in a filled lecture hall to receive their certificates of program completion and learn more about the medical program at WCMC-Q.

“When you do outreach the continuity and the long-term relationship with the student is important,” Saleh said. “Providing this opportunity to the students is important.”

Faculty and staff involved in the Adopt a School weekend programs follow: Phyllis Griffard, Ph.D., senior lecturer of biology; Sheila Qureshi, Ph.D., senior lecturer of chemistry; James Roach, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry; Dr. Amal Khidir, associate professor of pediatrics; Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos, Ph.D., associate professor of physics; Autumn Watts, MFA, English lecturer; Ellen Sayed, director of the distributed e-library; Adrienne Gibbons, director of admissions; Sally Birch, information services librarian; Ross Bowron, manager of information services; Maha Mourtada, information and references technician; Amani Majid, research specialist; Syed Ahmed Hasnain, senior physics lab assistant, and Sa’ad Laws, information and references service technician.

By Emily Alp