MET Professional Academy

I had an amazing opportunity to work with my MET bioscience peers on our independent research project! I am very interested in pursuing research more extensively in the future, and this project served as a crucial first step into the necessary skills such as developing a protocol, gathering and analyzing data, and effectively presenting the information with our scientific research poster. For our research, we investigated how temperature affects PCR product (Polymerase Chain Reaction product) clarity and resolution after gel electrophoresis. Our project contributes to research about optimal PCR product storage to produce clear results for analysis in fields such as bioscience and forensic science. I would like to thank the MET Professional Academy for providing me the skills and confidence to take on this project, Ms. Kristine Record for her unwavering guidance, advice, and support, and my teammates for making this project possible!

Thank you Brayden Campbell for sharing about your journey at the MET Professional Academy. The MET Professional Academy provides high school students from Peoria Unified School District with a opportunity to experience an innovative learning model that empowers students to fast-forward into their future. Students are still able to register for the 24-25 school year.

Studying at the MET Professional Academy with white board tables and with peers from different high schools is a game changer! The academy's emphasis on practical, hands-on learning has been instrumental in developing my skills and confidence. The curriculum, tailored to industry needs, has provided me with relevant knowledge that I can immediately apply in my career. What's more, the network of professionals and mentors I've connected with through the academy has been invaluable. Their guidance and insights have not only enriched my learning but have also opened up new opportunities for growth and advancement. In short, the MET Professional Academy has been a cornerstone of my journey towards success in my chosen field, offering both education and invaluable connections.

While I have been at the MET Professional Academy we have done many labs. The one my class was able to do the other day was, in my opinion, one of the most interesting. In this perticular lab we were looking at a family’s alleles trying to figure out how only one child could have homozygous recessive alleles when the rest of the family had dominant alleles. These specific alleles coded for the ability to taste PTC, an artificial taste only those with the dominant alleles can taste. This helped us build a family pedigree and make predictions about the inheritance of the ability to tast PTC in the family. This lab was to help us learn that PCR and restriction digestion can help provide data to determine genotype. It is labs like this that truly make the MET Professional Academy special.

On April 11th, multiple teams from MET Professional Academy, along with other high schools, were invited to attend the EPICS Showcase hosted at ASU, Tempe. This event allowed teams to show off the projects they made for their stakeholders to help the community. My team represented Liberty Wildlife, whos goal is to create a VR experience that anyone can use to learn about the importance of wildlife. At the end, all the projects were judged for a chance to receive an award (We received the Creativity Engineering Award 🏆). During our downtime we were given a tour of the campus (plus free food 😋). Overall, I found it to be a great experience. Especially since it helped show me what it would be like to pitch projects to potentially interested companies.

While I have been at the MET Professional Academy we have done many labs. The one my class was able to do the other day was, in my opinion, one of the most interesting. In this perticular lab we were looking at a family’s alleles trying to figure out how only one child could have homozygous recessive alleles when the rest of the family had dominant alleles. These specific alleles coded for the ability to taste PTC, an artificial taste only those with the dominant alleles can taste. This helped us build a family pedigree and make predictions about the inheritance of the ability to tast PTC in the family. This lab was to help us learn that PCR and restriction digestion can help provide data to determine genotype. It is labs like this that truly make the MET Professional Academy special.

Last Thursday, ASU EPICS invited teams from the MET Professional Academy to showcase their projects to judges and explore the other projects from around the state. #EPICS #community

This week on Tuesday I had the opportunity to job shadow Lathika Gopalakrishnan, Ph.D. and learn about her research and a day in a lab. I thank MET Professional Academy and Barrow Neurological Institute for giving me this wonderful opportunity and also Lathika Gopalakrishnan, Ph.D. for showing me around.

Congratulations Alexa! This is a well deserved recognition, thank you for all of the incredible opportunities that you and the Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at Arizona State University provide for Peoria Unified School District students.