Twenty-four young women spent six weeks this summer growing bacteria, peering through microscopes and boarding charter buses to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. They made up the 10th cohort of the Microbiology Girls Club, a free program at Miami Dade College's Homestead Campus that draws middle and high school girls from seven Miami-Dade County schools each year.

The program ran from June 15 through July 24 and concluded with a research poster presentation and awards luncheon for participants and their families.

Dr. M. Nia Madison, the MDC Homestead microbiology professor who founded the club a decade ago, told WPLG Local 10 in a July 8 interview, "I'm really excited about the fact that a lot of my students go on to four-year universities, graduate school, to engage in science terminal degrees."

Madison, who directs HIV and agriscience research at the campus, built the program on a Children's Trust Youth Development Grant she co-wrote with MDC, supplemented by the American Association of University Women. More than 400 students have participated in her various MDC programs over the past decade, according to Local 10. The Microbiology Girls Club enrolls 24 students per cohort, and Madison told Refresh Miami in a July 10 feature that the vast majority go on to become dual-enrollment students at the college.

She is recruiting for the 11th and 12th annual programs in 2027 and 2028.

Inside the six weeks

Each weekday from 10 a.m. to noon, participants suited up in lab coats, nitrile gloves and safety goggles in Room 316 of Building G. They practiced aseptic technique, brightfield microscopy and differential staining, and completed a multiday project identifying unknown bacteria through biochemical tests, according to Refresh Miami.

Lunch was provided daily and paired with Zoom conversations featuring professional women in STEM from Cornell, Johns Hopkins and the University of Toronto, among other institutions. Over the six weeks, participants heard from 30 researchers and professors.

Afternoons included workshops on financial literacy, college preparedness, entrepreneurship, mental health and artificial intelligence, followed by activities ranging from puppy yoga and ballet to lacrosse and self-defense.

Field trips beyond campus

In addition to the Homestead campus, students visited Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, the Miami Waterkeeper Floating Classroom at Black Point Marina and the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Tropical Research and Education Center.

One participant left the program early after receiving an internship offer at one of the field trip sites, according to Miami's Community Newspapers. Madison said the opportunity showed the club was fulfilling the mission she envisioned when she created it.