Sitting between two of her students on a Zoom call in early December, Clare Collins was beaming with pride. Ready for the winter holiday break, they were also eager to share their experiences about ABE, especially students Aimee and Caitlin, who are in their final year of secondary school with college ahead.
“They are a real asset to our school, and we’ll miss them when they are gone,” said Collins, who teaches science, including biology, at Breifne College in Cavan, Ireland, about 100 kilometers northwest of Dublin. As a secondary school teacher in Ireland, Collins has been working with many of her students since they were 12 or 13 years old, watching how their interests have evolved.
In the case of Aimee and Caitlin, Collins has seen a remarkable shift in just the past year, especially after both girls were able to attend an ABE training day at University College Dublin (UCD). They were two of only 16 students in Ireland invited to participate in the special program, during which students gained hands-on experience in university labs.
That experience, the young women said on the Zoom call, boosted their confidence and interests in the life sciences, with Aimee now planning to pursue pharmacology and Caitlin nursing in college next year. “Aimee started at this school when she was 12, and I can really see how her confidence has developed; ABE was a big part of that,” Collins said.
Having grown up in the Cavan area, both students are no strangers to the biotech sector, with several companies close by. “The big Abbott factory is only 20 minutes away from us, and a few people that are older than us and have finished school are now studying biomedical sciences and getting work experience there,” Aimee said. “Hearing from them really boosted my interests because I know I can get a job, maybe even before finishing college.”
Still, it was not until secondary school that both found a love of science, and biology in particular. “When I was in primary school, I didn’t really do any science,” Aimee recalled. For Caitlin, her initial interest came from her mother who works in the healthcare sector.
Participating in the ABE labs both in secondary school and at the UCD training day opened them to learning about genetics and biology in new ways. “It was something we got to experience that we never would have experienced otherwise,” Aimee said. Caitlin agreed, saying that the labs brought “practical experience that was different from an ordinary class.” They were also impressed by the high-tech equipment available at the university, in contrast to some of the more manual techniques they had used in school.
Making real-world connections has been key to both students wanting to continue on a bioscience pathway. And those connections are a key driver for Collins, who has been working with ABE Ireland since 2018. She teaches 10 classes total, including biology groups for senior-cycle students. ABE has given her the ability to introduce more contemporary biology concepts to her classes, paired with access to higher-tech lab equipment.
With her own educational background in botany and zoology research before she specialized in secondary education, Collins has a deep appreciation for how ABE has transformed her ability to teach experiential science. “The equipment, the curriculum, the training really energize me,” she said. “This is what I want students to experience—to get to use equipment they might not otherwise get to use.” And that’s what she saw when Aimee and Caitlin returned from their day at UCD. “When they came back to school the next day, I could see how energized they were, how enthusiastic. This is what science should be—not just learning it in the textbook.”