Stanford University's vast resources should not be reserved for the rich and fortunate. Thanks to programs like the nationally renowned Stanford Medical Youth Science Program (SMYSP), high school students from low-income and ethnically diverse backgrounds are given a very special opportunity here on Stanford's campus every year.

The SMYSP is a program run by Stanford's Medical School, which aims to supply less fortunate students of low socio-economic background with information on health and science professions as well as information about attending college. The program's mission is to enrich and diversify the scientific world by offering students unique exposure to science, academic enrichment, the possibility of attending college and mentoring.

The defining aspect of the program occurs each summer, when the SMYSP recruits 24 high school students for their Summer Residential Program. The students come from more than 300 high schools across Northern and Central California. All are economically disadvantaged and many are ethnic minority students. For five weeks, the students live together on Stanford campus along with 10 counselors, all Stanford undergraduates.

The students spend their days listening to lectures on the latest scientific research, working with doctors and other health professionals, learning from medical students and ultimately completing their own research project. Students are also given college counseling, information about financial aid and SAT-test taking strategies.

Although the students are kept extremely busy, they are given information that is not offered in their own schools or neighborhoods. They learn about opportunities many students had never previously imagined.

Students meet weekly with mentors, and often these relationships extend beyond the program. Mentors are faculty, staff and graduate students from the biological sciences and education. They commit one day a week to the program and come from Stanford, other colleges and universities, as well as medical and health professions in the area.

Program Director Judith Ned explains the success of the SMYSP.

"As our students are immersed in the worlds of science, medicine and higher education," she says, "college not only becomes a personal reality but also a stepping-stone to promoting change in their communities."

Andrea Kwan, a Stanford senior and a counselor for the upcoming 2006 summer program, shares Ned's enthusiasm for the program.

"These students will be busy. Yet, they are going to have the time of their lives -- participating in anatomy labs, living on a college campus with other high school students, going on field trips to places such as Six Flags and so much more. It is really a dream."

SMYSP began as a student-run organization in 1988. Since then it has become a University-based program that has served over 400 students from California. Among these, there have been some amazing stories. Many students coming from diverse backgrounds have become successful with the help of their mentors and the knowledge they gained from the program.

One young man, Erik, grew up on public assistance and was a former gang member when he was accepted into SMYSP in high school. He has since graduated with honors from Stanford, worked at the National Institute of Health and is currently in his third year of medical School at Stanford.

A young woman, Phuong, has a similar success story. She was a refugee from Vietnam who went to high school in Oakland after being separated from her mother. She graduated from Harvard and is currently in her third year of medical school at Georgetown University.

Of the students who have attended the SMYSP, all have successfully graduated high school, and 99% have been admitted to college. However, SMYSP is special not only because of the future opportunities it offers its students. The program also accomplishes something deeper than that. It gives students hope and allows them to pursue areas in which they were already interested in but did not have the resources to explore.

As Ned explains, "Many of our students' lives have been deeply affected by hardship -- from poverty and war to violence and racial injustice. But somehow, through it all, their determination, intellect and compassion have sustained them to an interest in science and medicine."

Ned adds, "We are committed to ensuring that all students are given the opportunity to recognize and reach their full potential. It is important to us that we show our students that they can achieve, and they are not alone in their journey to a better life and higher education."

The program is currently accepting applications for mentors, and inquiries should be sent to Andrea Kwan at akwan2@stanford.edu.