What past interns are saying about CMOP

Alexandra Rios
Summer Undergraduate Intern 2008-2009

"CMOP gave me the tools I needed to be a successful undergrad at USC -- the independent research experience impressed many professors, causing them to offer exclusive research positions in their laboratories."


What lessons I learned at CMOP

If I end up teaching Biology, I would definitely incorporate a few things I learned from CMOP into my lesson plans when we go into the microbiology unit. I would spend time teaching about Margo Haygood's research -- I think many students would find it interesting. And by talking about someone's research, I hope it gets them excited to do research of their own and go to college. Many Teach for American (TFA) corps members have used strategies like that to get their students excited about continuing their education beyond high school. For example, one TFA corps member brought her students back to USC (she worked in the LA area) and had one of her former professors give them their first - and hopefully not last - college lecture. Material from CMOP will definitely be incorporated into my lesson plans to encourage students to pursue higher education. 

How CMOP has affected my educational career

CMOP gave me the tools I needed to be a successful undergrad at USC -- the independent research experience impressed many professors, causing them to offer exclusive research positions in their laboratories. In addition, the internship opened other doors, unrelated to research, such as my tutoring position with USC athletes, RA position (really competitive at my school), Teach for America, and the #1 DPT program in the country: during the interviews for all those positions/programs, I drew upon my experiences at CMOP to answer their questions, and to show I was prepared to handle future challenges. Interviewers have frequently told me they are impressed with the rigor and independence of the research position at CMOP. I believe a large reason I was accepted into these new positions and programs was because of the training and growth I underwent as a CMOP intern -- the position taught me to be unafraid of difficult challenges (in the lab or else where), try and try again no matter how many times I had failed, and find a balance between relying on mentors and doing work independently. I would not trade my experience at CMOP for any other!