BOLD Initiative: A summer camp for high school students to increase cancer literacy, prevention and career awareness

The BOLD (BioCONECT Oncology Leadership Development) Initiative was developed to improve high school students' science skills and cancer literacy, as well as introduce students to careers in cancer prevention, research and treatment. The target audience for the BOLD Initiative was students entering ninth grade to recent high school graduates. The BOLD Initiative was offered to high school students as a week-long summer camp experience. The summer camp comprised a series of hands-on activities that emphasized students' research and problem solving skills. Using breast cancer as the context, students followed Patient “X,” who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, to study risk factors and molecular events leading to cancer, cancer genetics, genetic counseling, and treatment/prevention strategies. The summer camp also included cancer-related presentations from cancer researchers, team building exercises and lessons from the BioCONECT (Biology and Cancer, ONline Education Connecting Teens) curriculum. To introduce the participants to many of the diverse health careers associated with cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment, students participated in a career ‘speed-dating' event during the camp. Students evaluated the summer camp and rated the camp very highly in educating high school students about cancer genetics, prevention and health related careers. Evaluation measures included summer camp and follow-up evaluations. This session will describe the cancer literacy summer camp model, and provide participants with tools to conduct similar summer camps for local high school students. Lessons learned, challenges and evaluation results of the BOLD Initiative will also be featured.