Last night was the world premiere of OSA: Sisters In Science, a documentary detailing the Oncofertility Saturday Academy. This documentary told the story of what happens when young women from a small South side Chicago high school gets introduced to an emerging science like Oncofertility.  The film documented the hands-on experiences, classes, and testimonies of the young women of Young Women’s Leadership Charter School as they spent their Saturdays interacting with the Woodruff lab and other resources from Northwestern in 2009. 

A very personal story was told about how these high school students, intrepidly took on challenging experiments dissecting mice, ovaries in the uterus, isolating follicles, embedding them in alginate, measuring hormones, fertilizing real mouse eggs, and spending exclusive time on the Da Vinci Surgical Robot. 

Most importantly, the documentary chronicled the evolution of the OSA students, from passionate young women in high school waiting to be sparked by inspiration, to JOSAS (Junior OSA Sisters) to SOSAS (Senior OSA Sisters).  It also told the story of these young women’s families and the role this experience had in reaffirming a relationship of empowerment through education.  It was clear that every parent thought their child capable of any achievement, and OSA gave that potential a shape and form that many parents can’t imagine.

Directors of the program, Megan Faurot and Teresa Woodruff held a panel along with the film’s creators; producer Harlan Wallach, director Stefani Foster, and the film’s editor Erin Kitzinger.  The panel was a source of reflection and enthusiasm for the whole audience, including OSA alumni, POSA (Parents in OSA), as well as attendees of the Oncofertility Consortium’s on-going Annual Summit.

“This is a story of expanding horizons…you all have the potential to be the next generation of leaders, of teachers of scientists and creative thinkers. You have the opportunity to pass on to the next generation a world more vibrant, more creative and with more opportunity than the world you inherited.” –From Teresa Woodruff’s opening remarks.

The program is in its third year and is continuing strong.

The inaugural session of the Cardiology Summer Academy just ended. It gave seniors from the Young Women’s Leadership Academy Charter School a chance to experience the world of the heart through real-life experiences at Northwestern Memorial’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute. The program’s success was noted in an article by the Chicago Tribune.

The week-long summer experience for the small group of high school students is one of the science academies run by the Women’s Health Science Program at the Feinberg School of Medicine. The Summer Academy is designed to educate female high school students who are considering pursuing a career in science or medicine and to teach them about cardiology and cardiovascular health.

Megan Faurot is the director of education programs for the Institute for Women’s Health Research at Feinberg. She is also in charge of the Oncofertility Saturday Academy. “My goal is to create engaging and authentic learning experiences for high school girls to inspire and prepare them to successfully pursue careers in science and medicine,” she said.

The students participate in different activities such as watching cardiac surgery, performing dissections and getting CPR certified. Another major goal of the program is to increase the students’ knowledge of their own heart health so the curriculum also includes daily personal training sessions, lectures on heart disease and prevention and heart-healthy cooking demonstrations and meals.

Two high school graduates from the Young Women’s Leadership Charter School will be able to do hands-on research on Oncofertility this summer, thanks to President Obama’s stimulus money, the Chicago Tribune reported today.

The stimulus money is coming from the National Cancer Institute and will enable Ashley McKinney and Megan Romero to take part in the paid internship here in Teresa Woodruff’s lab at Northwestern University.

Melissa Resh, a teacher at the school, will also be doing research at the lab with money from the same stimulus package.

To read the story from the Chicago Tribune, click here: Stimulus cash aids Northwestern mentoring program.

 For a glimpse into what the Oncofertility Saturday Academy is all about, watch this video of the juniors during their session on February 28th:

YouTube Direct LinkJOSA Video Tara S. Kerpelman

Teresa Woodruff was an honorary co-chair at the Girl Power Benefit Luncheon for the Young Women’s Leadership Charter School of Chicago last Wednesday at the Hyatt Regency. The event honors women and leadership and highlights those who have made great efforts to be future leaders.

Penny Pritzker, the CEO of Pritzker Realty Group and National Finance Chair of of President Obama’s 2008 campaign, was the keynote speaker this year. YWLCS is approaching its tenth year and the luncheon raised money to support the school.

The Oncofertility Saturday Academy students showcased projects to those in attendance, including one on HPV/cervical cancer and another fertilization – showing both the basic and clinical aspects of science.

“It was an empowering event,” Woodruff said. She was proud of the OSA girls who showed they had learned a lot through the partnership between Northwestern University and YWLCS.

One of the main goals of the Oncofertility Saturday Academy (OSA) of Chicago is to provide a multifaceted support network to the high school female participants that will help prepare and foster their academic and career pursuits. The support network provided directly from Northwestern University and Young Women’s Leadership Charter, includes the scientists, clinicians, medical and graduate students and educators. Beyond the walls of these two academic institutions, it has been the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and siblings of the high school girls who have played a key role in the development of this support network. Since the initiation of OSA, it has been the parents/guardians of the high school girls who have made the sacrifices and arrangements to attend the informational meetings, to pick up the high school girls from the after-school workshops during the work week, and to drop off the high school girls bright and early at 7:15 am on Saturday mornings to catch the bus to attend the Northwestern University sessions. It is because of this support from the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and siblings of the high school girls that OSA of Chicago is having the inaugural Parent Oncofertility Saturday Academy (POSA) this coming Saturday, March 7, 2009 from 12:00 – 5:00 p.m. Northwestern University is actively preparing to host the 29 high school student participants and 58 parents/guardians. The students and parents/guardians will be bused to and from Young Women’s Leadership Charter School to enjoy lunch and participate in workshops led by Northwestern faculty, staff, and students. The parents/guardians will learn about the following:

· Scientific and medical concepts the high school girls learned during the OSA.

· Academic programs, funding opportunities and coursework requirements needed for the high school girls to pursue a degree in science or medicine.

· Variety of science and medical career options that are available to the high school girls.

While the parents/guardians participate in their workshops, the high school girls will be working on their oncofertility group projects that will be showcased at the program graduation and posted to the OSA website. Northwestern University is looking very forward to providing this opportunity to the parents/guardians. We hope that the parents/guardian gain valuable knowledge and skills to continue supporting the 29 high school girls as they continue to pursue their academic and career goals. Next week, visit the OSA website (osa.northwestern.edu) to view the photographs that will be taken at the inaugural Parent Oncofertility Saturday Academy (POSA).