YES! Youth Engagement through Science

http://www.mnh.si.edu/education/yes/application.html

SMITHSONIAN MUSEUMS: Youth Engagement through Science (YES!) is a 16-week program:

1. Six-week Summer internship – Monday – Friday, June 24th to August 2nd, 2013
2. Ten-week Fall College Preparatory Program – Saturdays, September 14th to November 16th, 2013
3. We encourage all applicants to take advantage of our online application system.
   Applicant requirements:
   • Be a student in the 9th through 11th grade who live in Washington, DC, or the immediate metropolitan area.
   • Be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents.
   • Attend a local high school (public or private) in the Washington, DC, metropolitan region (DC, MD or VA).
   • Be in good academic standing.
   • Participate in both the summer and fall sessions of the program.
   • Be interested in science or cultural studies as a potential career path.

Summer Program Components
Component 1: Career Immersion

• Science Internship. Through an 80-contact-hour internship, students learn the skills of performing research and understanding the context for their work from experts. Each intern will work on an individual project with a Smithsonian scientist-mentor at the National Museum of Natural History, the National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Gardens, and the National Air and Space Museum.
• Behind-the-Scenes Tours, Field Trips, and Guest Speakers. As part of the YES! program, interns experience the vast scope of the Smithsonian Institution during field trips to some of the Institution’s museums and research centers in the area. In addition, guest speakers from our science community talk with our students about their work in their respective fields.

Component 2: Communicating Science.Community Leadership is key to sustaining students’ interest in their work and to sustaining relationships between students, their communities, and the Smithsonian. Interns engage in interactive workshops covering various skills, including oral and written communication and research presentation. Participants are provided with guidelines and opportunities to communicate and make presentations as real-world professionals.

• Communicating Science to Public Audiences:Interns work with the Museum’s Education and Outreach staff and volunteers to learn how science is communicated to the public. Interns engage in hands-on experiences in NMNH’s exhibits, including Mammals, Human Origins, Gems & Minerals, and Paleobiology, as well as learning spaces such as the Insect Zoo & Butterfly Pavilion, Forensic Anthropology Lab, and Discovery Room.
• Broader Social Impacts Roundtable: Roundtables are weekly 2-hour discussions on the interplay of science and public policy and the relevance of students’ projects for scientific and public value.
• Cross-Cultural Communication Experience: Interns will receive training in cross-cultural communication and then practice what they have learned with rotations in the exhibit halls as volunteers working with museum visitors.
• Community Day: During the last week of the summer program, the interns use their newly acquired skills in communicating science to present the results of the projects they worked on with their scientist–mentors. This science fair-style event allows the Smithsonian community to view the students projects and learn more about their summer experience.

Fall Program Components
Component 1: College Preparation. During the fall, students participate in college preparation activities:

• Practical College Preparation Course:NMNH collaborates with the Center for Minority Advancement in Science and Technology (CMAST), a community-based college preparation provider. Students improve reading, writing, and mathematical skills. Workshop topics include preparation for entrance exams, selecting a college or university, selecting a major, financial aid, and writing college-entrance essays.
• College Visits: On two Saturdays, students visit colleges in the Washington, DC, area to talk with admissions counselors, meet current students, and explore campuses.

Component 2: Community Leadership and Engagement. For Community Leadership and Engagement, participants can become ambassadors through one of two tracks below: Scientific Research or Science Communication –

• Scientific Research: Leading Peers in Citizen Research. Interns will design and lead a workshop for their peers to access NMNH collections onsite or digitally to explore research questions related to core natural history content and skills.
• Science Communication:Interns will research and design a conversation about current science relevant to their lives, their futures, and the future of the Earth, and delivering it via distance learning technology to classrooms across the country.

How to Apply

Applicants may register and submit an online application via the Smithsonian Online Academic Appointment system (SOLAA). Select “Youth Engagement through Science (YES!)" from the drop-down program list. Applicants who apply for the YES! Program through SOLAA should not fill out a paper application for the internship as well.

Deadline is March 29th, 2013.

We encourage all applicants to take advantage of our online application system.
Applicant requirements:

• Be a student in the 9th through 11th grade who live in Washington, DC, or the immediate metropolitan area.
• Be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents.
• Attend a local high school (public or private) in the Washington, DC, metropolitan region (DC, MD or VA).
• Be in good academic standing.
• Participate in both the summer and fall sessions of the program.
• Be interested in science or cultural studies as a potential career path.

Application materials required for YES! Internships:

• Online or paper application
  • Application Survey (required)
  • Essay (required)
  • Transcript
  • 2 Recommendations (see list of accepted recommenders)
  • Teachers (Science, Math, or  Social Studies related)
  • Counselors (Grade, Career or Internship related)
  • Principal (Head, Assistant or Vice)
  • Community Based Organizations (Directors, Managers or related staff)

Please submit all application materials via the SOLAA system. If specific circumstances prevent this, please call 202.633.4588 or e-mail yesprogram@si.edu.

Any material related to the application can be mailed to the following address:

Attn: YES! Program
Smithsonian Institution-NMNH
Office of Education & Outreach
PO Box 37012 MRC 158
Washington DC 20013