The student describes their experience participating in the Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) program over the summer. RISE is a science program that selects 24 talented first year students who are taught research skills like analyzing topics and developing arguments. As part of RISE, the student took a biology course to better understand experimental procedures and developed their critical thinking by choosing a topic to research and creating a proposal to present. The experience helped the student improve their research skills which will be important for their future career as a scientist.

1. My Rise Summer Experience
To know how to research is very important for a science student. It shows its intellectual
capacity to analyze in order to give an opinion about a specific topic, or idea. It also helps to
develop the argumentative virtues of a student. It is of great advantage for his life as a student,
and later on for its career. To have some research experience before entering college is vital for a
student willing to be a successful member of the science community.
This summer I had my first research experience. I had the opportunity to join the
Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE). RISE is a science program at the
University of Puerto Rico at Cayey that every year chooses 24 of the most talented first year
students at the university. Those students are taught, by the discipline of reading, how to research
about a specific topic. That topic is usually science related.
RISE students also had to enroll in a biology course, including its laboratory. The course
gives the student a brief knowledge background of biology. In that way, the student would have a
better understanding of what it is happening at the experimental part of the course. To correctly
understand all of the procedures that are going on at the lab is one of the most important tasks of
a student willing to learn how to research.
To develop critical thinking is crucial to learn how to research. Being a member of RISE
helped me a lot. It helped me to develop my ability to analyze the main idea of a specific topic. It
also made me improve my critical thinking skills. During summer each student had to choose a
topic. Then we had to research about that it in order to create, and develop a research proposal
written abstract. Finally, we had the opportunity to present ourproposal in a symposium made
especially for us.
This summer I had the opportunity of my life. I learned a lot, but most important, I
improved my research skills. Someday, those skills will be essential, and necessary to become a
good scientist. It was a really interesting summer because it caused an enhancement of my
scientific skills. However, I also met a lot of people. Some of them were my professors, some of
them were students, and some of them became my friends.