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While some students are vacationing, incoming freshman at South Early College High School (SECHS) are preparing for long careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through a Summer Bridge Program with Houston Community College.

SECHS is HISD’s only STEM magnet early college, aimed at increasing student awareness of and preparation for careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, all while earning an associate’s degree tuition-free from Houston Community College.

The Summer Bridge Program allows freshman to get a head start on building relationships, developing study habits, and improving critical reading, writing, and math skills. The students also had a chance to tour the Houston Community College campus and see where STEM studies might lead them. Back in the classroom, students have been exploring the range of the STEM world by completing virus and yeast labs and learning computer programming to operate robots.

“We are excited about STEM at South Early,” said Summer School Coordinator Cedric Starks. “I wanted the students to experience working in the science lab, conducting tests and experiments, and using codes to program the robots.”