The students were excited daily to enter the mobile lab and were exposed to a variety of experiments. I remember one of the most exciting days was when they solved the mystery of the broken beaker! They were meticulous at all data collecting and were on task to solve the mystery. Many of the labs gave the students opportunities that they had never experienced. The students’ minds were like open doors welcoming all their discoveries experienced through this opportunity. The parents were so appreciative and I had responses like, “Cole can’t wait to attend Science camp. We postposed our camping trip so he could attend.”  Many parents coordinated baseball practice, church camp, cheer camp, and doctor appointments so their children could attend Science camp.

Another aspect that all students and leader had was discovering many STEM jobs! Currently, our college student who loved Biology and planned to be a teacher is now hired at our Refugio County hospital lab while attending college! Her experiences in her AP Biology class using the microbiology lab equipment in the MDBio labs and teaching the younger students to use the equipment proved to her that  she loved being in the lab. Mariya said, “I felt like I was never working and want to pursue something like this as my career!”  The enthusiasm of the students has carried over to this school year as well. The experiences of the students that were shared with the MdBio Labs and Trailer are considered priceless here at Refugio High School and will not be forgotten.

I want to say again how wonderful this experience has been to me personally. It is reassuring to know that there really are good people who care and share a laboratory trailer filled with the latest equipment with a small community that has limited resources. Our community has such a need for educating our youth and families that there really are STEM jobs out there that can be obtained with some college hours/certificates. MDBio and REBUILD TEXAS has made this happen. This has been like a B-12 shot in the arm for our district! So many good things have happened out of the storm and I am so grateful.

– Janice Carroll, Refugio High School, Lead Science Dept.