Three high school students in denim shirts and wide-brimmed hats make rounds on a hot summer day, checking gauges and pumps and testing water samples to make sure everything is working properly at Pima County’s Wastewater Reclamation Facility on the far west side.
All of Tucson’s solid waste and about 70 percent of its liquid waste comes here to be treated.
These students are part of Pima County’s Bio-Science Academy, a monthlong paid internship that helps high school students and recent graduates gain work experience in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — fields while also earning college credits.
The Bio-Science Academy is part of a program called Youth Career Connect, funded by a four-year $5.4 million Department of Labor grant under Regional Partnership of Innovation Frontier Southwest. The regional partnership in this project includes Yuma, Santa Cruz, Cochise and Pima counties.
Pima County focuses on four career pathways — biotechnology, industrial technology, health information technology and aviation.
Students in the biotechnology pathway, from Pueblo, Sunnyside and Tucson high schools, were recommended for the program by their teachers.
“We take kids in bio classes and we’re giving them opportunities above and beyond what they get in school studying,” said Gerry Brunson, project coordinator for Youth Career Connect and workforce development specialist with Pima County. “Opportunities include employer speakers, mentorships with employers within their career pathway, work experience and internships as available.”
For Victor Carrillo, a recent Tucson High graduate, the science drew him in.
“I was always interested in science,” Carrillo said. “It’s the perfect opportunity to see if this was something I wanted to pursue. It’s really interesting and I’d love to work here some day.”
Yamaika Romano, a 17-year-old going into her senior year at Pueblo High School, said she chose the Wastewater Reclamation Department for her internship because “it’s a step forward” toward the career she wants as a wildlife biologist. And she loves being in a lab.
Noemi Somalinog, a 17-year-old senior at Pueblo, loves the chemistry aspect of her internship and chose it because she wanted to try new things.
“I started my career path in the medical field, but this might be my second option,” Somalinog said. “It’s really cool. There’s a lot of chemistry going on.”
The Bio-Science Academy with regional wastewater provides students with six college credits at Pima Community College.
The Youth Career Connect grant ends next summer, but Brunson is confident that the partnerships will continue.
“The way I look at grants in these projects is it’s the seed money to start the projects and programs that will be sustained,” Brunson said. “It’s building a sustainable model of something and I know we’ve done that in Southern Arizona. For instance, the regional wastewater thing won’t go away when the grant money ends. It will go on.”
“We love being a part of YCC,” said Molly Renner, Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department’s operations instructor. “It’s a great opportunity to engage the public and show them what we do. The more people know what we do to keep Pima County safe, the better.”
IN THE LAB
At the plant’s microbiology unit a few miles down the road, interns don lab coats, safety glasses and rubber gloves.
The lab, which employs 33 people, analyzes wastewater, ground water and lead filters for the department.
“We always look forward to the groups of kids,” said Jenelle Chraft, lab manager. “We hope they’ll be interested in science careers and possibly come work for us.”
On a recent weekday, students tested samples of effluent for total suspended solids — the number of particles that can be caught in a filter — to find out how clean the samples are.
Samples were put in an oven to bake the water out of them, then weighed. The weight should decrease as the effluent gets further into the treatment process.
“These samples were pretty dirty effluent, so they could see a range,” said Sarah Russell, wastewater laboratory technician. “It’s very important to know what our wastewater quality is.”
That’s what drew Bri McElroy, an incoming UA freshman, to this internship.
“I’m interested in the water cycle and how they clean it,” McElroy said.
For Alondra Cordova, a 17-year-old senior at Pueblo, leaning about what’s in water seemed like a good fit, since she wants to be a firefighter.
A total of 80 students participated in various activities within the program’s four pathways this summer, which concluded with a graduation last Friday.
“It’s a great opportunity to engage the public and show them what we do. The more people know what we do to keep Pima County safe, the better. ” Molly Renner, with the Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department on Youth Career Connect
