Governor's School goes global with new program

HARTSVILLE — Three South Carolina high school students said the time they spent this summer conducting scientific research in Germany not only exposed them to the world of research and science, but also gave them a better understanding of life in another culture.

“This experience has made me realize that so much of what we are doing is all around the world,” said Alice Chang of Summerville, a senior at the S.C. Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics, a two-year, public, residential high school in Hartsville specializing in the advanced study of science and mathematics.

Governor’s School students and faculty marked the start of what the school’s president, Dr. Murray Brockman, called a new era for the school Thursday with a celebration of the recently launched Research Exchange Scholars Program: A Roche International Science Education Initiative (RESP).

The new program, launched with support from research-based health care company Roche, sent Chang and Governor’s School seniors Emily Harruff of Columbia and Lily Elsner of Due West to Germany to conduct scientific research for six weeks during the months of June and July.

The three lived with German host families and carried out college-level research in areas that included applied microbiology, botany and cyto- and neurophysiology.

In exchange, three German students from a biotech school in that country are currently at the Governor’s School for seven weeks where they will reside while working as research interns alongside established professors at the University of South Carolina whose projects cover a broad spectrum of topics in cell and molecular biology.

“This does mark today a great step forward for the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics,” Brockman said.

The new collaborative with Roche Carolina, Roche Mannheim and the Johanna Wittum School in Germany caps more than 20 years of successfully preparing South Carolina students for careers in science and technology, Brockman said. The Johanna Wittum Schule is a competence and mentoring center of national standing is Germany for biotechnology in schools.

“In a traditional foreign exchange program, students live abroad for a designated period of time in an effort to immerse themselves in another country’s culture and language,” Brockman said.

“In this global economy, GSSM is taking that one step further and into the scientific community.”

He said the program will play a vital role in the state’s future. “The state of South Carolina has the opportunity today to leap far ahead of our more complacent competitors,” Brockman said.

The program is designed to allow students to learn the cooperative, international nature of scientific research, Brockman said. “They will discover how to work around language and cultural barriers to arrive at a shared understanding of a new phenomenon,” he said.

“Research is the essence of science, and this program is living proof that students at the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics can do anything they set their minds to,” Brockman said.

Randy LaCross, director of outreach for the Governor’s School, said the idea for the program grew out of a challenge Brockman issued five years ago to the school, the outreach program and the Governor’s School’s Foundation.

Brockman said when the idea was first presented about four years ago for a program that would have high school students traveling abroad to conduct scientific research, it was met with skepticism. “People told us it couldn’t be done,” he said. “They said high school students didn’t have the maturity or the commitment to do that. Well, they have all of these things.”

“It gave me a chance to interact with German students with similar interests to mine,” Chang said. “It was a wonderful opportunity to bridge the gap between America and Germany.”

It was also a culturally enriching experience, she said. “We learned a lot about the German lifestyle,” she said.

“It was interesting for me to see how science is conducted in other countries,” Harruff said. “I found out that science is something that unites the whole world.”

She said living with a host family also showed her that family life in Germany is just as important there as in the United States.

Elsner said coming from a rural area like Due West to the Governor’s School was an experience in itself. But the opportunity to live and study abroad, she said, was “the best experience of my life.”

“All of a sudden, I was thrust into a whole new world of science,” she said. “It was such a great opportunity to be a part of this.”

Dr. Jurgen Braun of the Johanna Wittum Schule said the research exchange program was first proposed to him by the U.S. ambassador to Germany about four years ago.

The program resulted, he said, from the realization on both sides of the Atlantic that something needed to be done to broaden and strengthen the relation between the U.S. and Germany by involving more young people from both countries.

Roche, he said, saw an opportunity to make the program a reality.

“This will be the best motivator for other students,” Braun said. “I’m sure those motivated students will be the best we can dream for the future. Let us help them with their first steps to that future.”

“Let us make dreams real,” Braun said. “In the words of your president, yes we can.”

Dr. Hans Groeger of Roche Carolina said Roche was grateful for the opportunity to participate in the program. “As a global healthcare company, we recognize what an international program like this can provide to our work force,” he said. The students who participate in such programs will make up the work force of the future for companies like Roche, he said.

“This program allows us to elevate our commitment to develop a competitive work force in South Carolina,” Groeger said.

He said the program allows students to view data, research and study from a different perspective. And it represents the kind of innovation that universities and colleges, businesses and societies depend on to succeed, he added.

LaCross said through programs like this and the outreach program, the Governor’s School is influencing hundreds of teachers and thousands of students around the state each year.

State Sen. Gerald Malloy of Hartsville, a supporter of the Governor’s School, said its students are the leaders who will work to find solutions to the state’s problems in years to come.

“In the state of South Carolina, we have to honor our children by being committed that we will do everything we can do to help them be everything they can be,” he said.