AURORA, Ore. — What started as an opportunity to judge entries at a high school since fair has blossomed into a summer internship experience at Oregon State University’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center.
More than a decade ago, Luisa Santamaria, a professor of plant pathology at OSU, was asked to be a judge at the Wilsonville Science Fair. After seeing the entries that involved her area of expertise, Santamaria started recruiting students as volunteers in her lab at the center, known as NWREC.
“Students from urban areas often don't know much about farming and how it connects to the environment and food supply,” said Santamaria, a nursery pathology specialist with OSU Extension Service who started the High School Scholars Outreach and Education Program (SOEP) in 2012.
“Getting these students involved in hands-on activities can spark their interest in agricultural sciences and help them understand plant health and farming systems,” she said.
In the summer of 2024, the program reached a milestone with support from the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology in the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences and the newly launched SEED Internship Program.
“This dynamic program gives high school students a unique opportunity to gain experience in a research lab while exploring plant production and field visits to learn about Oregon’s nursery industry,” Santamaria said. “Through this immersive experience, students develop valuable skills to prepare them for college-level research.”
The internship offers up to 20 hours of work per week over an intensive eight-week period at NWREC, which is 20 miles south of Portland. Students from nearby schools, such as Wilsonville High School and West Linn High School, are prioritized due to their proximity to the research station, making participation more accessible.
“We provide students with hands-on training in microbiology, teaching them how to isolate plant pathogens and apply fundamental laboratory techniques,” Santamaria said.
Each student develops and manages a small independent project. At the end of the internship, they present their results in a formal report, showing their understanding and contributions to plant pathology research.
Camryn Lau started volunteering in Santamaria’s lab in 2020 and, under Santamaria’s guidance, investigated tobacco mosaic virus in tomato plants for the Wilsonville High School Science Fair.
She became an intern in 2021.
“I got connected with Luisa through an advisor at school who knew I was working in plant pathology, and I started just popping by her lab,” Lau said. “It was just nice not only to work with the plants and really get a deep dive into what research is. This internship is a way to dip your toes into the water.”
Lau is now at OSU, where she’s majoring in nutrition and is on the premedical track with the goal of becoming a family medicine physician.
“Just being able to open my eyes to what kind of science is out there and maybe not just what I want to do, but also what I don't want to do was very helpful,” Lau said. “Being able to leverage relationships and build a network at Extension was a key component of this internship. I think a lot of my current research started with my roots at the Extension center.”
Mentorship is important
Aasha Patel, who interned in 2024, is a senior at Wilsonville High School, where there are limited coursework opportunities surrounding agriculture in an urban context.
“Luisa helped me gain a better understanding of scientific processes, like working with microorganisms. That was interesting to experience because I never really got to do that at school,” Patel said. “School science classes don't really get super applicable to real-world problems until you leave school, so it was really interesting to be able to connect all the dots with this internship.”
Students participating in the internship program work on a project over the summer, which some continue into the school year to present at their school science fair.
Patel and Santamaria connected after Patel presented a project on cyanobacteria at the Wilsonville High School Science Fair, where Santamaria often judges and mentors.
“I’ve done a lot of cyanobacteria research since ninth grade, and this internship was a good way for me to connect my interests in science and bacteria with engineering,” Patel said.
Mentorship is a key component of the internship at NWREC, allowing students to learn from multiple people within the lab.
“Luisa is really great about giving you the tools to be successful in your own interests,” Patel said.
