Thanks to Halley Hughes, Caden Huey, and Ronald Sabatino, Sahuaro has some smart Cougars representing us at the University of Arizona!

Students interested in science and wanting to attend the University of Arizona had the chance to apply for a summer program at the university called the KEYS Research Internship program. Earlier this year, the University of Arizona came to Sahuaro High School to share with some science classes about an internship under the name of the KEYS Program.

Students earn college credits for attending and completing this internship but not everyone gets this position when they apply. The difficulty of getting this internship is what made it very exciting for the students who won the internship from the university. Under the internship, students will research on a project/topic of their choice, similar to SARSEF, from June 3rd lasting until July 19th. Their projects will be presented at the end of the internship program. Caden Huey says, “I want to thank the University of Arizona’s KEYS Program for accepting me over other extraordinary applicants. I am very excited to begin my journey as a fitness specialist while conducting research that will aide me on my path through college and beyond.”

The students who won this internship were Seniors Halley Hughes, Caden Huey, and Ronald Sabatino. When the trio were pulled out of class and told to go the the Career Center, they had some hopeful clues that they were the winners.  To cheer them on, there was almost the whole office staff, people from the KEYS Program, a Sahuaro calculus class, and even the Sahuaro media board all there to celebrate and congratulate the winners.

Halley Hughes said, “I was not expecting this many people, I thought it would just be a room of the three of us who won and the U of A KEYS Program Team.” Mr. Davis, physics teacher said, “I am very proud of my students and the time they took to get this Internship. This is not something easy to get into and this shows a lot of effort for what they did.”

Since 2007, about 428 students have completed the KEYS Program at the U of A and out of those 428 students, 63% of the kids who do this Program also go to the U of A after High School showing that this program gets kids interested in going to this school. The program is 100% free and gives students college credits for completion. If the students have jobs that intervene with the dates, the U of A will actually pay you for attending and doing your research at the Keys Internship. This will definitely look good on the students’ future resumes, helping them get into jobs, colleges or programs that they want.