For The St. Louis American
Students in the Principles of Biomedical Science class at Hazelwood Central High School completed their first year in the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Biomedical Program with presentations to a guest panel of research scientists from Washington University in St. Louis.
Standing before an audience of classmates and the research scientists, teams of students gave PowerPoint presentations of grant proposals for products and/or services to help people suffering from a disease, a condition or an illness.
James Wright, PLTW teacher, explained the format of the presentations.
“Students had to create a novel idea. They then had to research the idea to be sure it did not already exist. Finally, they had to work through a specific set of guidelines to develop a grant proposal requesting funding for the research and development for their idea,” said Wright.
“It gives students a semi-realistic look at what real science involves. Grant writing is a major component of all scientific work. The point of the presentations was to give them practice presenting to a large group, and to receive feedback from professionals who write grants for a living,” he continued.
The proposal topics varied from hearing loss, breast cancer, hemophilia, asthma, diabetes, vitiligo and more.
Breanna Robinson, a junior, proposed a care kit for breast cancer patients. She was inspired by her mother, who is a breast cancer survivor. Her care kit included skin creams for radiation treatments, bras and wigs, and providing resources for support groups.
“I was motivated by my mom and what she went through,” said Robinson. “It was painful for her and it was an emotional battle.”
“Radiation is part of the medical field. We learn about diseases, syndromes and viruses, and breast cancer is a disease,” she said, explaining how the topic related to the biomedical science class.
“I want to be in the medical field. It will be a different experience with the biomedical class,” said Robinson.
Reginald Thedford was part of a team that presented on hemophilia.
“We had to study the background of the disease, create a product and decide what it would do and set goals,” said Thedford.
The team proposed a cream that contains the clotting factors that hemophiliacs are missing.
“The product has clotting factors. You can apply the cream on cuts and scrapes to develop a clot to minimize the bleeding,” he said.
“This gave us more exposure presenting in front of people. It teaches you how much work to put forth,” Thedford said. “I liked it. The panelists gave us feedback. We know what we need to do better, and they gave us ideas we didn’t think of.”
Wright said most students felt the presentations were a rewarding experience.
“They felt that the judges were fair, and gave them a lot to think about. Some groups mentioned that they now see what kinds of things they should have thought about beforehand. All in all, it was positive,” he said.
