Boston Learning Lab celebrates 10 years
In 2024, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of our first Learning Lab’s founding at our Boston headquarters, as well as our 13th year hosting Boston Public Schools students for our annual summer internship program.
As a high school student in Boston, Jessica Mejia never pictured herself on a STEM career path — until a Learning Lab internship in her junior year of high school changed everything.
“I really enjoyed being in the lab so much,” said Jessica, who is now in her second year at Gordon College majoring in biochemistry. “Seeing what they do at Vertex and their mission — how they really have an impact by making medicines that help people — really inspired me. I didn’t really think I could work in a lab, but actually being in the lab and doing the work grew my confidence. And now this is what I want to do with my future.”
“We are intentional about inspiring and creating opportunities for all students, including those who have been traditionally underrepresented in biotech,” said Melodie Knowlton, Ph.D., who leads our STEAM Education programs globally.
The Boston Learning Lab is one of three, along with San Diego and Oxford, U.K., providing a dedicated space for hands-on lab experiments and a venue for students to learn about STEM-related careers and critical business skills.
Jessica first interned with our Boston Learning Lab in 2022, and she returned for a second internship after her senior year. It was that second experience that solidified her interest in STEM, and she wanted to return as a college student to help the incoming high school interns. “I’ve been in their shoes,” she said. “I come from the city as well and see myself in them.”
In 2024, Jessica returned as a college intern on the Learning Lab team to support the 30 high school students in the summer internship program, helping them adjust and prepare experiments. In many cases, that meant performing new experiments herself to guide them.
“My goal was to inspire the students and help them build confidence too,” she said. “I wanted to connect with them and learn from them as well as managing a whole lab. We are close in age, so I also had to learn to professionally manage those relationships and set boundaries.”
San Diego Learning Lab welcomed its fourth summer of interns
Like Jessica, San Diego Learning Lab intern Samara Seaton interned with us after her junior year of high school. Samara attended a med-tech academy through her high school, where she learned biology fundamentals, dilution and how to properly use personal protective equipment. With the essentials covered, her time at Vertex brought it all to life.
“We had two parts of the day — first the official Learning Lab [curriculum] where we’d perform experiments related to different diseases and public health issues. Then we worked with Vertex managers in different departments, including finance and HR. I loved the people, and my manager was awesome and a big part of the reason I’m studying bioengineering now,” Samara said.
When applying to college, Samara was torn between math, biology and a general degree. After discussing with her Vertex manager, she landed on pursuing bioengineering. “When I found out this applied to the work at Vertex, I just knew it’s what I wanted to do,” she said.
While the Learning Labs’ curriculum and activities focus on science and developing lab skills, the summer program also helps interns develop other critical business skills, like networking and presenting. One of Samara’s most memorable assignments came during a presentation where they had to speak from slides containing only photos, no words.
“I remember how worried I was about having to do it because I couldn’t rely on the words,” she said. “It really helped me see I know a lot more than I think I do and being in front of people is not as scary. Now I speak from what I know, and it sticks with my audience.”
Now in her freshman year at San Diego Mesa College, Samara reflects on her time at Vertex. “It was a nurturing place,” she said. “The people there care about your success, how far you are going, and they want you to learn.”
Oxford Learning Lab prepared students for future careers
Over in the United Kingdom, Amaan Butt experienced similar support and encouragement while working in our Oxford Learning Lab and had a breakthrough in choosing his career.
Amaan is preparing to leave secondary school. Before coming to Vertex, he was confident he wanted to work in the pharmaceutical industry but wasn’t sure in what capacity.
“I always knew I wanted to go into something with a strong science background but didn’t want to work with patients as a doctor,” he said. “I thought the internship would help me find out about careers I could pursue with a science degree, making and developing the medicines as an alternate to something patient based.”
On just his second day in the lab, Amaan’s future career began to crystallize. “This was where the real research goes on and that was my favorite,” he said. “I was so happy to be placed in a lab that focused on pharmacology, looking over lab procedures and preventing contaminations. Pharmacology is my favorite part, and the experience really confirmed it was the right choice for me.”
Amaan now wants to study pharmacology at university. “I want to impact the world by using the skills I learned through the internship, by being part of drug development or scientific research to produce medicines that can support patients suffering from diseases worldwide,” he said.
500 interns and counting: Building a global community
Since 2012, we have hired more than 500 interns globally, and we’re excited to continue to grow our global community! Jessica, Samara and Amaan remain connected with their Vertex Learning Lab mates and mentors — an important step in building careers in STEM. “We are already on LinkedIn and building connections with people in the professional sector,” Amaan said. “It’s not that common to go through this experience in secondary school. We have people to go to for advice that most don’t have until later in life. It’s good for our futures.”
All of our Learning Lab alumni are building a global community and bringing the skills they learned with them as they pursue what’s next in their educational and career journeys. Whether it’s STEM, biotech or another career pathway, we can’t wait to see the impact they will have on the world!