Bel Air's 'Guinea Pigs' Complete Inaugural Biomedical Program

celebrated the first batch of graduates from its Biomedical Sciences program Thursday night. The nationally-recognized program offers high school students a hands-on opportunity to learn math, science and engineering in real-world settings.

The group of 31 students spent their first three years learning about medicine, DNA mapping and disease treatment. For their senior year, they developed and researched independent projects. The results of their work were on display in the school cafeteria Thursday night.

Every student who completed the program has been accepted into college for the fall. As a group, the students have garnered more than $1.3 million in scholarship funds.

Lead teacher Shannon Esposito said the program has been more successful than school leaders expected, but that this first go-round was an experiment in itself.

“They were the guinea pigs,” said Esposito, who was hired when the program was still in the planning stages.

She worked with the students as they moved from freshmen to seniors.

“You all hold a special place in my heart," she told students in a tearful speech at the end of the night. “I’ve seen each of you struggle at some point, but I’ve also seen you succeed.”

One of the projects on display, by Allison Campbell, focused on the life of a registered nurse. Campbell, who will be attending Messiah College in Pennsylvania next year, said the program was a great way for her to make sure she was on the right career path.

“I actually want to be a nurse,” she said. “I never really experienced what they did hands-on. It definitely locked me in. This is definitely what I want to do.”

 member was one of several board members on hand to examine the students’ work.

“I’m very impressed with the high level of thinking,” he said. “I started looking at the kind of projects that they are taking on. It says a lot about them and what they are thinking.”

Frisch said that programs like these are necessary to get Harford County students ready for the influx of jobs that will be coming to Maryland by way of BRAC.

“It’s a generalized thinking about moving into the sciences,” he said. “We have to recognize that the employment tier is moving in this direction.”