Over the summer three students, along with about 80 others from around St Louis, received awards from a research program called the STARS program.

It started the first week of June and ended July 20th. Each student researched in different areas. Sanjay Elangovan, senior, studied DNA and RNA at SLU. He worked with one of the SLU professors, Dr. Znosko, and a lab partner from Lindbergh High School.

“I learned how to express scientific words in layman terms,” Elangovan said.

Some struggles Elangovan said he had were making sure the results were accurate and just staying awake.

“It was just like a regular school day but coming home at six,” Elangovan said.

Elangovan said his favorite part was watching the World Cup in the lab, but learning what it is like in the lab was cool too.

“It was pretty boring, but I liked getting to know whether this is a path I should follow for a career or not,” Elangovan said.

At the end of the program, all the students go to a ceremony called the White Coat Ceremony. It is a graduation ceremony for the program.

“They give you a white coat, and it is monogrammed with the STARS logo,” Elangovan said. “And they give you a little pin!”

Praveen Bagavandoss, senior, was also a part of the STARS program. He studied at SLU with Dr. Dana Baum in the chemistry field.

Bagavandoss said he liked trying out a new field even though it was hard to get used to all the new equipment.

“The research itself was boring, but we got to meet a lot of new people,” Bagavandoss said. “The scientific part was fun minus all the standing and waiting time.”

He said the White Coat Ceremony was to acknowledge their completion of six weeks of research.

“It was like any normal assembly, but more official,” Bagavandoss said.

Poornaashri Malarvannan, senior, researched ion channel mutations about diabetes at Washington University with.

“It was hard learning all the terminology in the beginning,” Malarvannan said. “They have a really weird language.”

Malarvannan said she learned how to progressively think while researching at the same time.

Mr. Ed Bolton, a chemistry teacher, has all three students in his class. He said they have great work ethic and are extremely intelligent.

“I like their excitement for new ideas and experiences,” Bolton said. “They have the ability to bring diverse information and experiences together and make one picture out of it.”

Bolton is glad they experienced the STARS program, and he said it will help them in the future.
“It gives them an opportunity to experience real scientific research which will set them apart in college applications,” Bolton said.