Five students from the American Samoa Community College have returned from Portland, Oregon where they participated in a program designed to support undergraduate students interested in pursuing research careers in the biomedical, behavioral and social sciences and engineering.
The students received scholarships from BUILD Exito, a program funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and based at Portland State University.
The students: Alice Tausaga, Vinesa Faaogea, Olivia Atisano’e, Francine Iopu, and Luavaasiitia April Esera, were accompanied by Mr. Derek Helsham of the College’s Health & Human Services Department.
Either in the coming fall 2017 semester or in spring 2018, the five will take an introduction to biomedical research class referred to as a “gateway course.”
It is the program’s goal that each student selected for BUILD EXITO from a partner institution, including ASCC, will continue their interest in research and eventually transfer to PSU to pursue a biomedical degree.
This is the third ASCC cohort with PSU.
Alice Tausaga of Fagatogo, BUILD EXITO sees the program as “a great opportunity.”
“I got to learn about different types of research, not only in the biomedical field but also the social studies field,” she said.
“It helped open my eyes to my own interests in my field of learning. Now I know more about research and the impact of putting your work into some type of action.”
Tausaga plans to focus on the Social Behavioral field, which deals with conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorder, post-traumatic stress, bipolarity, and related mental health issues.
