Summer Institute returns to campus (and so does Brittany!)

We are thrilled to announce that Summer Institute 2022 will return to in-person learning on the beautiful UND Campus.  Students will engage in five weeks of enhanced STEM curriculum including Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Math, Writing and Communication, and scientific research study design.  Summer Institute (SI) is designed to help students improve their performance in school, give them advanced learning and tools that will help them excel, and put them on a path to a successful university career in a STEM field.  The ultimate goal is to see each and every one of our SI graduates go on to attend and graduate college and pursue a career in an allied health field.

In addition to intense classroom and lab experiences, our students will go on several field trips to enhance their summer experience: a ropes course to build teamwork and leadership skills, the Minnesota Zoo to see their animal biology curriculum in action, Thunder Road for a real-life physics lesson, and so much more!  We’re even working with UND Athletics in the hope of having the Volleyball and Basketball teams join us for a pick-up tournament!

Applications were due on March 15th, and acceptances were sent the week of April 11th. We have accepted 48 students to this year’s Summer Institute, and we can’t wait to host these incredible young people on our beautiful campus for a summer of learning and fun!

Brittany Belgarde returned to the INMED team in the summer of 2021. Holding SI online for the second year in a row was a challenge, but we are so grateful that our students persevered and stuck it out. Now, back on campus, we can’t wait to get back to the hands-on experiences that make Summer Institute the national leader in supporting middle and high school students on their path to allied health careers!

Brittany, whose official title with INMED is the Coordinator for Outreach, Programming, and Education (COPE)  had this to say about the upcoming summer program:

“I personally feel like this is exactly what our program, and our participants, need after a very trying two years of the ongoing global pandemic. Having the opportunity for us to come together once again in person, I do believe will strength the program and its outcomes. It will be rewarding to give our students the chance to participate in face-to-face classroom experiences, hands-on labs, and tours of different facilities. Many of the students attending this year’s Summer Institute are returning students (some have been with the program for 5 years!) and I am excited for them to see the other side of Summer Institute, not just through a Zoom screen.

It would be an understatement to say that I am thrilled to be bringing Summer Institute back on-campus!! I look forward to the students having the opportunity to experience life on UND’s campus, to watch them grow in their education, and to explore opportunities they may have not known about previously. All of these aspects excite me, but what I look forward to most is the relationships that are built. When I started my career journey with INMED I was told “Once you are part of the INMED family, you will always be part of the INMED family” and this is very much true. The relationships that are built across the Summer Institute family is like no other, and I am so ecstatic that we have the chance to continue to grow our family this summer!   Miigwech”