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What’s Inside Heritage Youth Researcher Summer (HYRS) Program 2006 In the lab The mentor HYRS Research Views Responding to the reader Fatigue and illness Adolescent nutrition and lifestyle Basic research: the foundation for medicine Learning to walk...again At the Forefront Researchers in the making Reader Resources Heritage Youth Researcher Summer (HYRS) Program 2006 Sean Heisler has been thinking a lot about university. The Calgary high-school student will enter Grade 12 in the fall, and he isn’t quite sure what he wants to study after that. Maybe sciences. Maybe biomedical engineering. Maybe medicine. “Since I can’t even watch ER on television, I really don’t think treating patients is for me. But I am attracted to the laboratory side of medicine.” In the lab Sean is getting the opportunity to test this out. In July, he began work in the lab of Heritage Scholar Dr. Richard Wilson at the University of Calgary. This work experience is offered by the Heritage Youth Researcher Summer (HYRS) program, AHFMR’s hands-on summer research program for Grade 11 students. “I’ve done summer camps at the University of Calgary which involved laboratory work, but nothing so advanced,” says Sean. “This is a great chance to see what a research career is like.” The mentor Dr. Wilson, a physiology professor, studies the basic mechanisms involved in the control of breathing. He supervised a student in the 2005 HYRS program and enjoys the intellectual stimulation of being surrounded by bright, enthusiastic high-school students. “The HYRS program enables young students to immerse themselves in a new field at a very advanced level. As they face the intellectual challenge involved, they sometimes look at problems in ways veteran researchers may not have considered, providing a gold mine of new ideas. Researchers often learn as much from the questions they are asked by bright students as the students learn from the replies they are given!” HYRS Sean is one of 45 high-school students participating in the 2006 HYRS program; 171 students, representing 81 schools throughout the province, applied to the program. To qualify for HYRS, students must achieve an 85% average in the required math and science subjects; they must also obtain two teacher references and one community reference, and write an essay on an assigned topic. Applications are judged by a committee of high-school science teachers. Back to Top