High school students enriched by Lynchburg College classes

Zaina Natour (left) from Appomattox High School and her lab partner, Andrew Noh from Fairfax County, study slides containing cancer cells during their class at Governor’s School at Lynchburg College on Thursday.

By: Christa Desrets | News Advance
Published: July 18, 2008

Zaina Natour works to steady her hand as she gingerly lowers a pipet into a tray of gel, and squeezes out the DNA.

“This is nerve racking,” she tells her lab partner. “I don’t think I could be a surgeon.”

But with practice, the technique is one that could prepare her to work in the genetics field.

Natour, a rising junior at Appomattox High School, is one of 131 high school students studying this month at Lynchburg College’s Governor’s School for Math, Science and Technology.

Students in the program, which began July 6 and ends Aug. 2, get to experience dorm life while studying one of any 10 courses offered.

Topics range from learning video game programming to studying water resources to exploring topics in genetics and biotechnology.

“It’s all about learning what you can,” said Danny Cline, an LC math professor who is directing the program. “Every student gets a certificate of participation at the end, rather than having grades. We don’t want the classes to be high pressure. There are no grades here.”

Natour and Andrew Noh, a rising senior at James Madison High School in Vienna, thought they could learn the most from the genetics class.

“This is useful in life,” said Noh, who partnered with Natour in their Monday laboratory.

Rebecca Ross, who during the school year is a professor of anatomy and physiology at Radford University, is teaching the genetics class.

She aims to show students research methods with real-life applicability, she said.

The same technique Natour and her classmates performed Monday is used by molecular biologists and genetic engineers to create new pharmaceutical products, detect genetic diseases or design insect-resistant crops.

The program, in its 13th year at LC, is one of six summer residential governor’s schools. Other colleges focus their programs on humanities, visual and performing arts, life sciences and medicine, engineering and marine science, and agriculture.

Every high school in Virginia may submit nominations for students who are gifted in a particular area.

During the program, students have their main class in the morning, and planned activities throughout the remainder of the day, Cline said. All fees for meals, housing and educational events are covered by a grant from the Virginia Department of Education, he said.

Natour, the lone Central Virginia student at LC’s program, said she worried that she wouldn’t get into the program.

“But here I am,” she said after finishing the lab. “I’ve never done this before.”

Rebecca Ross prepares slides of cells for students to study during Governor’s School on Wednesday.
JILL NANCE/THE NEWS & ADVANCE