President of the school’s HOSA chapter, senior Kanika Kappalayil, presented some unique experiences she had over this past summer in a special program Tuesday evening in the lecture hall. Kappalayil had the opportunity to be a part of the highly selective UT Southwestern stars summer internship program which accepted 50 students out of more than 900 candidates.

“My experience at UT Southwestern this summer interning there for 8 weeks, was one of the best experience I’ve ever had,” Kappalayil said. “I was so glad to have this opportunity because I got to work at the department of urology, and over there I got to research clear cell, renal cell carcinoma and learn more about how cancer works

For eight weeks of the summer, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Kappalayil worked with researchers in a lab, studying clear renal cell carcinoma, a branch of research that essentially studies tumors in the kidney. As the final step of her research, she presented in the lecture hall educating any interested liberty students about the cancer cells and gave information on the stars program which current juniors can begin applying for in December.

“It was such a great opportunity for me not only to branch out my career path and understand if I wanted to be more of a physician, or a scientist, or both,” Kappalayil said. “I also made a lot of friends in the process. so, I wanted to extend that opportunity to the people here at Liberty, because I know it’s very hard to get opportunities, for you know science related careers, especially when it’s so competitive out here. So, I wanted to make sure other people knew about the excitement that comes with being involved in this internship.”

Working with professionals, Kappalayil studied a liposome that could help reduce the rate of malignant cancer spreading; an internship that opened Kappalayil’s eyes to the realities of of the science field.

“I think a lot of times in science we think of just doctors, and then researchers, and you know working in cardiology, and urology, those are like the main hubs of science, but there’s a lot more that goes into healthcare and medicine, than just those roles and those areas of study,” Kappalayil said. “When you’re involved with something as intensive as an internship, you get to explore all the realms of science, and you get to open your eyes to what you didn’t know was there, and what’s really an important functioning role of society in the advancement of society through science, that you wouldn’t have known before.”