YES! Intern Talk - 'Mislabeling of Fish in the Caribbean'

Maiss, an intern at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, worked in the Vertebrate Zoology department. At first, she found lab work difficult, but with the help of her mentor she was able to collect data from her experiment, which involved extracting and sequencing DNA from fish sold in Guatemala and Honduras.

The Smithsonian Institution’s Youth Engagement through Science (YES!) internship program gives teens from communities that are underrepresented in STEM careers the opportunity to work with Smithsonian scientists and other experts. These young people from the greater Washington, D.C., area work on science research projects, and get science communication and college preparation training over the course of the program.

As part of the 2017 YES! program, the interns created these TED-style talks to share their stories.