The following material was taken from an article in The UCSB Current, written by Shelly Leachman and posted on July 28, 2015, with the title “Seizing Opportunity: Standout Santa Maria High School students earn scholarships to prestigious Research Mentorship Program at UCSB” (read the entire article here):
Seventy-seven high school students are spending part of their summer at UCSB, participating in the highly competitive Research Mentorship Program (RMP). Top-achieving teens from across the country and around the world apply for RMP’s intensive course in graduate-level research, which puts them in labs and in the field alongside UCSB faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and advanced graduate students.
Santa Maria High School student Justin Suarez is one of 26 students on a RMP scholarship, and Geography graduate student Tammy Elwell is his mentor. RMP seeks to provide financial support each year for some 30 kids who are from underserved communities and/or are first-generation students, and who might not otherwise be able to participate.
“When I came here, I thought I was prepared, but then I realized… it’s a huge journey right now, consisting of a lot of work,” Suarez said of his project on the effect of people’s opinions on coastal usage in Chile, with geography Ph.D. candidate Tammy Elwell. “Working with my mentor has been amazing. Whenever I get stuck or have a problem, I can go to her and she’ll help me work through it but also encourage me to try to find out for myself, to see if I can solve it, because she said that’s a major, important part of research — to work your way through problems yourself. This is a huge and different experience that most people won’t get.”
The RMP mentors may know their way around research, but for those who are moving toward potential careers as academics and professors — and most are — what they’re learning about teaching, and about themselves, in the program is invaluable. That’s according to Elwell, who is mentoring this summer for the second time.
“It’s a learning exchange where I probably learn even more as a mentor than what Justin might experience,” Elwell said of working with Suarez. “It involves patience and kindness, learning how to communicate, learning how to listen. This has really been a reflection for me of how much mentors have helped me. I’m just speechless thinking how much people have invested in me to be where I am. Now I’m in that position of mentoring, and it feels great. I’m very grateful.”
Editor’s note: Many thanks to Geography graduate student Kitty Currier for bringing this material to our attention.
Kudos 
Tammy Elwell, left, is a UCSB doctoral student in geography and a mentor in the campus-hosted Research Mentorship Program for high-achieving high school students. Justin Suarez, right, a senior at Santa Maria High School and RMP participant for 2015, is her mentee. Source: The UCSB Current; photo credit: Spencer Bruttig. 
Santa Maria High School students Justin Suarez, left, and Esmeralda Cruz, right, flank Juan Gallardo, a staff adviser with UCSB’s Early Academic Outreach Program based on their campus. The students credit Gallardo with encouraging them to apply to the Research Mentorship Program; they were admitted and awarded full scholarships to attend. Ibid.; photo credit: George Foulsham.
