SPRI Future Innovators

Lab tours provide fifth grade students with an introduction to the scientific laboratories, research work and scientists at SPRI, with the aim to trigger awareness and inspire young students with the exciting opportunities that science and research offer. A local science field-learning opportunity, Fifth Grade Lab Tours make hands-on science fun and demonstrate key aspects of the SPRI labs used by scientists and doctors. SPRI FI volunteers present interactive lab activities and question & answer sessions with SPRI scientists. Fifth Grade Lab Tours typically take place during the spring term and include the entire Fifth Grade classes from all regional elementary schools.

This middle-grade program offers eighth-grade students a firsthand look at what a career in science and medicine looks like from the experts themselves, using their tools in a mobile lab setting. Along with health care practitioners from Vail Health and The Steadman Clinic, SPRI scientists set up multiple field stations—sawbones and arthroscopy simulation, suturing, casting, ultrasound and physical therapy—at a local middle school for an at-school field trip. At STEM Futures Day, students cycle through stations, learning about the variety of career pathways from hands-on practice with the experts’ tools and guidance.

The Summer Scholars program welcomes high school juniors and seniors with an intensive and interactive weeklong program introducing career fields in scientific research, medicine and health care. Students rotate through SPRI’s various research laboratories with direction from expert professionals through hands-on activities: such as measuring movement in the Biomotion Lab, learning about the role of medical imaging in diagnosis and research, computer programming and mechanical testing in the robotics lab, conducting regenerative medicine research experiments, performing specimen dissections in the surgical skills lab and observing live surgery in the operating room. Throughout the week, students also learn directly from health care professionals about their training and career paths to fields in STEM and medicine, as well as the different fields’ approaches to patient care.

SPRI FI’s longest standing program, Science Club offers high school juniors and seniors with an academic year-long program focused on asking hypothesis-driven research questions and conducting innovative scientific research, while being mentored by professional scientists and science teachers. Through progression from guided fall projects to independent spring projects, SPRI FI Science Club provides students with direct access to cutting-edge research laboratories for conducting experiments and mentorship by engineers, scientists, researchers and clinicians. Two student representatives are selected from each regional high school at the beginning of the academic year by their respective science teachers and participate as team pairs.