May 1, 2009
 
Biotech students connect with futures
High schoolers show off work for potential employers
By EDWARD L. KENNEY
The News Journal
 
Seventeen-year old Tyree Wilson labored at his lab station Thursday on something called gel electrophoresis. It is a fancy scientific way of saying he was determining the size of DNA, one of the skills he needs to pursue for a career in biochemistry.
 
"Science is basically a mystery to me," said Tyree, a junior at St. Georges Technical High School near Middletown. "I like to solve different problems, as well as conduct different experiments to make discoveries about life. I would say it's more the mystery of it I like, because I am interested in learning about things I don't understand."
 
Tyree has the interest and curiosity to go far in his field. But connections also are important in pursuing any career, and Thursday's Biotechnology Open House at the school -- with invites going out to representatives of about 20 employers and colleges -- could go a long way toward getting things going.
 
Biotechnology is a brand new career path in the New Castle County Vocational Technical School District, and it has been offered at St. Georges for just the past two years, beginning the second year the school opened.
 
"I just want to promote the program," said teacher Florence Malinowski, who organized the open house. "I have to establish those relationships and pave the way."
 
Students, mostly juniors who are looking for summer internships and cooperative employment opportunities, showed off their skills at eight lab stations as employers took the opportunity to talk with them about what they were doing.
 
Junior Gina Peirce, 17, worked with a mortar and pestle, crushing spinach leaves and removing the juice for analysis.
 
"We're finding out different pigments that are in spinach," said Gina, who does not know yet what career she would like to pursue. "A lot of people came to this station and asked about this. It's a really good opportunity for companies to see what we're doing here at St. Georges."
 
Ben Hsu, chief financial officer with QPS, formerly Quest Pharmaceutical Services, attended the open house to check out the students and their work.
 
"I just want to understand what kind of training they're providing, what kind of education they're providing," he said of the school. "We need to identify the right talents and skill sets to come to our company."
 
Malinowski, incidentally, worked at Hsu's Newark-based company as a quality assurance director before leaving two years ago to become the biotechnology teacher at St. Georges, and it is perhaps fitting that many of her students are now looking to go from the school to such a work site.
 
Some of the biotechnology fields include forensics, medical technology, environmental science, veterinarian lab technology, ecology, marine biology and wildlife biology. And with a four-year college degree, the students could make $35,000 to $50,000 to start, and a master's degree could shoot them above a six-figure salary, Malinowski said.
 
The first class will graduate next year, so many of the students also are looking at higher education. Among the college representatives at the open house was Joan Barber, the chairwoman for the biology and chemistry department at Delaware Technical & Community College's Stanton Campus, which offers associate degree programs in biotechnology and chemistry technology.
 
"These students would be wonderful for our program," she said. "They would be very well prepared. They've had a lot of introduction to things that we would be teaching them at DelTech."
 
District Superintendent Steven Godowsky also dropped by St. Georges to check out the open house.
 
"It's a highly technical lab," he said. "Next year, our seniors are in a position to go to work, so bringing in the potential employers is important. They can get a sense of where we are and where we're going."