Engineering a Cool Career in Biotech - and Volunteering Along the Way - Seite 2

As the lead volunteer manager, Duchnak coordinates about 15 volunteer managers who, in turn, help prepare the other volunteers and connect with the teachers. It's a massive undertaking, but the takeaway every year is the small, joyful aha moments. Duchnak remembers one student at San Diego's Lewis Middle School last year: "He was so enthusiastic about answering our questions and trying to share what he knew, and it was really great for me and the other volunteers to see that what we consider normal daily job activities can be so exciting to kids."

Making connections
Another program, Genomics 101, is open to any employee year-round. Volunteers can visit a classroom with a ready-made presentation and tools like the strawberry DNA extraction kit. Duchnak explains: "In addition to presenting about Illumina, we also introduce kids to concepts such as ‘What is a genome?' and ‘How much DNA is in our bodies?' The numbers are kind of mind-boggling, even to adults-so to kids, it's even more so."

When they're in the classroom, Duchnak has been passionate about urging her fellow volunteers to share stories that will help students feel a connection-if not to the unfamiliar science material, then to the employees themselves. She revamped a slide template to allow volunteers space to include personal stories, not just career facts. Did they go to a community college? Play soccer? Question what they wanted to do in life? Duchnak says kids are surprised to see someone who went directly to a four-year university standing next to someone raised in a rural area with very few STEM resources or advanced placement classes. "The critical part is not putting the focus so much on what employees do, but connecting with students and showing them there are many different paths. It doesn't matter where you came from or what you were equipped with. You, too, can do whatever you want, and we're giving examples within the Illumina community."

Recently, another opportunity that Duchnak has been involved in is with a nonprofit Illumina supports, called SD Squared. It focuses on increasing diversity in STEM fields in San Diego. Duchnak participates in the SD2 mentorship program for high school and college students in San Diego County and beyond. She mentors a student at UC Riverside. Working with so many students has taught her not just the importance of connecting to each one as a person, but also that having access is key. "SD Squared has taught me what a difference it makes just to have exposure to STEM and resources."