There are individuals who can truly impact a community simply by combining their natural gifts and talents with a willingness to use them for the good of others. Typically it takes time to develop such gifts, talents and willingness – usually as part of the maturation or “growing up” process for most of us as we age and experience different phases of school, work and life. But then there are the exceptions to the rule.
Ericka Pegues is one of those exceptions. Last year, the 17 year old senior at the TAF (Technology Access Foundation) Academy fused her love of biology with her desire to help cancer patients in a science project where she modified a delivery method of medicine to cancer cells which is now being used by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), where she is an intern. In addition, she also received national recognition by the NAACP as a result of the project.
“My favorite thing about science is working with so many different brains. It’s so cool to work with so many people. Science is never done by yourself,” stated Pegues who says as a child she wanted to be a teacher or a veterinarian before participating in a research fellowship in the eighth grade.
“She was always curious about things,” added her mother, Penny Howard. “Biology was something she was always interested in.”
By Pegues’ sophomore year she was interning at FHCRC which gave her the inspiration for her high school science fair project: creating a filter apparatus to introduce new genetic material (a process called transfection) into an unhealthy cell without affecting surrounding healthy cells.
According to her research paper, Pegues states that the creation of this apparatus is important and relevant to science because scientists have identified drugs that can effectively kill cancerous cells within a controlled environment, but often encounter the issue of those same drugs also killing healthy cells with the current method being used. In addition to fixing this issue, Pegues’ apparatus also shortens the current method of transfection, which Pegues calls a “long and annoying process,” from 4-8 hours to 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Dr. Beverly Torok-Storb, Pegues internship mentor, is a scientist who runs the research lab at FHCRC and oversees the high school internship program, which she says contains a “phenomenal group” of students including Pegues.
“She applied an existing device to a methodology that benefited from that application,” said Dr. Torok-Storb. “That’s science. It’s about making connections – seeing something you can make better, or change, or ask questions. And that’s something you can’t teach. Some see it, some don’t.”
After her project won top honors at the TAF school science fair, Pegues submitted it as her application to the NAACP’s Afro-Academic, Cultural Technological and Scientific Olympics, or ACT-SO program. The program includes 26 categories of competition for high school students (grades 9-12) in the sciences, humanities, business, and performing and visual arts. ACT-SO awards gold, silver, and bronze medals as top honors in those categories. Pegues’ apparatus first won gold at the State competition and then again at the National competition in Las Vegas in the medical science category.
These “Academic Olympics” were first created in the 1970s to counteract the fact that African American students were lagging behind in math and sciences as well as provide accolades in areas other than sports, which has often been the dominant point of recognition for young people in African American culture. In fact, the NAACP ACT-SO competition holds such a high standard of recognition that they do not always provide gold, silver, or bronze to every category, says Carolyn Riley-Payne, who is the ACT-SO chair in the Seattle King County area and helps to develop ACT-SO programs for students throughout the state. According to Riley-Payne, in order for an entry to win gold, silver, or bronze, it must first be deemed “medal-worthy.”
“This is not a talent show. It is a national competition,” said Riley Payne. “Ericka’s tenacity and determination to have a project that was nationally competitive helped her place. In addition to her being smart and working with well-renowned researchers at Fred Hutchinson, she came up with a device that had a major impact in cost-effectiveness and the medical field. She listened well, made changes the judges recommended, and she practiced.”
“What I learned at ACT-SO was to win humbly and lose graciously,” said Pegues, who hasn’t decided on a college yet but says she’s only looking at options that will allow undergraduate research and will most likely study hematology as a graduate student.
Pegues is currently in her third year interning at FHCRC and receives a grant from the National Institute of Health that helps to pay for college application fees, SAT preparation courses, and provides her with a stipend for the hours she’s on the FHCRC campus.
“Neither of us could have foreseen all this,” said Howard. “I’m proud of her and excited for her upcoming years…she wants to change the world. She already has it set in her mind she wants to win the Nobel Prize.”
“Some kids who have grown up in this world – where their parents are scientists, doctors, etc., they’re really comfortable in it,” stated Dr. Torok-Storb who’s mentored high school students for the past five years in the FHCRC internship program. “Students like Ericka and myself who didn’t grow up in that [world] come in a little intimidated…She’s not one of those that got in through a straight route. Some, like Ericka, have had to take a circuitous route, but they get there. And that ends up being the more interesting route, and those end up being the more interesting people.”
In addition to guiding and overseeing Pegues in the research lab at FHCRC, Dr. Torok-Storb assists her in preparing for college scholarship interviews and writes letters of recommendation on her behalf.
“She’s evolved rather rapidly,” said Dr. Torok-Storb. “She was very shy and quiet. Now she’s realized she is quite competent. No one can intimidate her.”
“Now that she’s working with professionals she knows they’re regular people and that kind of exposure is important,” continued Dr. Tork-Storb. “She’s learned how to measure herself against others and knows she can compete…She’s had to work hard, but that’s a part of the game.”
With that confidence Pegues has expanded her efforts to positively impact the health of her community with her current senior project: educating the African American community about the National Donor Registry through public presentations and donor drives.
“This project is a far more significant one,” said Dr. Torok-Storb. “It’s more challenging for her having to educate people and alleviate fear [about what being a donor means]… She will be a great ambassador in her community.”
Becoming that ambassador seems to be a natural step for Pegues who’s made it a mission to help others through her interest in science and now has the added confidence to continue to do so. But more so than confidence, Pegues is quick to remind others, it first starts by being willing to take the first step towards that goal.
“Kids my age don’t realize the kind of options they have,” she said. “If you just Google ‘Fred Hutchinson Internships’ you can find the programs I’m in. Kids don’t realize: you can take the initiative yourself.”
While many people her age want to become rich and famous, Pegues is focused on making her mark in the world by helping others.
“As long as I’m benefiting someone, that’s good enough for me,” she says.
