Summer 2025: From Student to Mentor, From Fieldwork to Yale

If the summer of 2024 was about learning, the summer of 2025 was about being trusted to lead. Over six weeks across three programs, I went from university research labs to an active archaeological dig — and came back home having earned two college credits, conducted original soil science research, and gained a clearer sense of the kind of scientist and advocate I want to become.

REAP Program — Prairie View A&M University

In mid-June, I completed the Research Extension Apprenticeship Program (REAP) at Prairie View A&M University. REAP places high school students directly into university agricultural research, working alongside faculty on active projects.

At REAP, I conducted original research under Professor Ripendra Awal, investigating the effects of varying fertilizer types and amounts on soil samples. I designed experiments, collected and analyzed data, and presented my findings at a formal poster presentation — my first experience presenting original scientific research to an academic audience. The experience confirmed something I had long suspected: that the relationship between soil health, agricultural inputs, and sustainable food production is far more complex and fascinating than it appears on the surface.

SC3 — Returning as a Student Mentor

The year before, I attended the Student Climate Change Congress (SC3) as a participant. In 2025, the program invited me back as a Student Mentor — making me one of the only rising juniors to serve in that role. SC3 made a special exception to include me, and I took that responsibility seriously.

Mentoring younger students through climate science concepts, helping facilitate discussions, and modeling the kind of curiosity and rigor I'd developed through TIHSA — it was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had. Teaching, I learned, is also a form of learning.

Center for American Archaeology Field School

In July, I participated in the Center for American Archaeology (CAA) 2025 High School Field School in Kampsville, Illinois — a competitive, residential program placing students in active excavations alongside professional archaeologists.

At the German Site — a location occupied by Late Woodland people of the Lower Illinois Valley around 800–1200 CE — I excavated house basins and associated features, conducted laboratory analysis, and identified artifacts alongside professional archaeologists. The work was painstaking and precise: carefully brushing soil from objects that had not been touched in over a thousand years, documenting their location and context, and working to understand what they revealed about how people lived, grew food, and organized community life in this valley a millennium ago.

Upon completing the program, I earned 2 college credits through Lewis & Clark Community College — recognition that the work done at the Field School meets undergraduate-level academic standards.

Looking Ahead: Yale Young Global Scholars 2026

In December 2025, I was selected for the 2026 Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) program in the Solving Global Challenges track — one of the most competitive academic enrichment programs for high school students in the world, held on Yale's campus in New Haven, Connecticut. I will be attending Session I in June and July 2026.

The themes of the SGC track — global challenges, interdisciplinary problem-solving, policy and science — connect directly to TIHSA's work. I look forward to bringing that perspective to New Haven, and bringing back everything I learn to Texas.