As young sisters growing up in Las Vegas, we didn’t have the language to define our fascination with science. For Angel, it was an early obsession with issues of health and equity: why do some people get sick and others don’t? Why do some communities struggle more than others? Why isn’t there always a solution?
For Lisa, it was the Marvel comic book character Iron Man on our computer screen, planting the seed of invention and helping others.
At this point, our interests were radically removed from a reality where much of our daily lives were in a state of pandemic flux. In 2021, when Lisa was 13 and Angel was 17, changing dynamics within our family created uncertainty and instability in our lives. Through it all, our love of science has become an anchor.
Not only does science embody our passions and dreams, but it has also become one of the few spaces where effort, curiosity, and perseverance actually lead somewhere. Later, immersive STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) experiences opened doors for us, and we want to help open those same doors for others. That’s why we want more students to have the opportunity to do “real science” early on, like we did while attending the national university. the longest running STEM summer program.
Angel has been attending virtually during the pandemic, studying biochemistry. Lisa studied biochemistry in person at Purdue University. Being a part of these programs gave both of us real access to serious research for the first time, working with U.S. and international students from around the world.
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We didn’t just follow instructions. We would design experiments and solve problems with our peers. When we did research, it didn’t just teach us lab skills. It taught us that our backgrounds and circumstances do not prevent us from conducting our own world-class research. Few people realize that STEM is about more than learning facts. It’s much broader. Working in STEM fields relies on communication, cooperative learning, and other dynamic skills.
The confidence Angel gained from her research into head trauma and cardiovascular health boosted her application to Princeton, from which she graduated in May with a degree in molecular biology.
STEM gave Lisa the confidence to create her own advocacy and awareness organizations, including one focused on empowering young Nigerian women through mentoring and education and another that aims to teach adolescents about diabetes prevention and management.
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Real science, we both learned, almost never works perfectly the first time. Most of the time when things go wrong, what helps is to step back and realize that the problem is not with your equations or your math, but with your assumptions.
Being stuck on a problem is not a sign of failure. This is a sign that you are actually doing real research. STEM teaches much more than just biology, chemistry, or engineering; it teaches students how to work with people and how to function in the real world.
When people talk about the need for “soft skills” in addition to technical expertise, they are referring to habits that we both developed as high school students, thanks to the opportunity to conduct real research. Working with our peers to do practical science for its own sake, rather than just for a grade or a competition, has made us better students, better colleagues, and better people.
Significant changes can happen before college when students have the chance to truly explore STEM outside of textbooks. This stimulates understanding, innovation and humanity.
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The momentum born from our early experiences with “real science” now propels us toward change and advocacy. Our curiosity turned to the study of biology and chemistry because we realized that these are tools that allow us to intervene, not just observe.
We are both interested in public health and medicine because medicine is an applied science. Every diagnosis, every drug, every lab result is rooted in biology, chemistry and data. If we are treating a patient, we don’t just want to know what the guidelines say. We want to understand what’s happening at the molecular level and why a treatment works or doesn’t. And that’s why we both chose to pursue a STEM education.
Lisa plans to study pre-med at Princeton next fall in hopes of pursuing biomedical innovation. After graduation, Angel plans to study for an advanced degree in public health and medicine at Yale. She recently founded and is now president of the Global Health Reform Initiative (IRSM), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that advances health equity for underserved communities through global health research, policy, and technology-enabled healthcare access.
Giving students the opportunity to tackle real-world problems, allowing them to fail and regroup, and prioritizing learning through access not only leads to results, but also to better humans.
Ange Ndubisi recently completed a Bachelor of Arts (AB) in Molecular Biology at Princeton University. She is the founder of Global Health Reform Initiativea non-profit public health organization. Lisa Ndubisi will attend Princeton University in fall 2026 to study pre-med.
Contact the opinion editor at opinion@hechingerreport.org.This story about Summer STEM was produced by The Hechinger reportan independent, nonprofit news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Register with Hechinger weekly newsletter.
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