Inspiring Scientists with Cubist

At age 12, did you ever watch bacteria grow, or see a rocket launch, or analyze finger prints in a crime scene? Thanks to Cubist Pharmaceuticals, our students at Citizen Schools Massachusetts aren't your average 12-year-olds. They're scientists. Let's see what they've learned over the years... For the past four years employees from Cubist Pharmaceuticals have been leading Boston area middle school students on a path to discovery.

Rob Perez, President and Chief Operating Officer of Cubist, and Citizen Schools Massachusetts board member, said, "What I love about Citizen Schools is it not only extends learning time, but it also turns kids on to the opportunities available to them by having Citizen Teachers, like people from Cubist, coming in and showing them what they do through lots of different apprenticeships...It opens up a possibility they never knew existed." Check out this great video to hear more about how Cubist helps make dreams come true for Citizen Schools students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XoLlrsmdLQ

The Citizen Schools and Cubist partnership began in the spring of 2009 with former Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Cubist Dave Mantus (now a Citizen Schools Massachusetts Board member) who taught a group of students the basics of physics through rocket science. Check out Dave and his students in action as they fire a vortex canon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=q8iY-NXKaQo

Two years later Cubist employees took on a new challenge, leading an apprenticeship called Cybersurgeons, in which middle schoolers became medical doctors-- studying viruses and learning how to diagnosis and treat patients.

This fall, Cubist led an impressive three apprenticeships! In Ice Scream, You Scream, young ice cream enthusiasts learned the science behind their favorite treat. Down the hall in Brand You, the kids created their own personal brands and learned the business of advertising.

In another Boston classroom students experienced Crime Scene Investigation, where they learned how science is used to solve crimes. 6th grader Remy loved the class so much he even wished they could extend the class time to two hours! If you can make a child wish for more time in class, you know you're doing something right.

Thanks to incredible partners like Cubist, science is fun. Best of all, in every Cubist classroom, young students are doing more than have fun while learning. They're experiencing what it's like to be a scientist and discovering that they can become scientists too.