The BC Cancer Agency′s Trev & Joyce Deeley Research Centre opened in Victoria in July 2003 and is the first cancer research centre on Vancouver Island. This state-of-the-art Research Centre is supported solely by the BC Cancer Foundation (BCCF) through generous contributions by donors. A research facility of this calibre offers many opportunities to the surrounding community, one of which is the High School Internship Program.

2010 Program

The program is offered to all secondary schools on Vancouver Island. Interested students should contact the Science Dept. Head at their school and find out what the school's internal process is for determining the nominees from their school. Each school is limited to nominating 2 Grade 11 students for the program. Guidelines and Application forms will be made available on this site by mid-November of each year.

The High School Internship Program is designed to provide 4 students each summer the opportunity to explore cancer research from the front lines by spending 8 weeks through the summer at the Deeley Research Centre. The successful interns are given a specific project to undertake during the summer in coordination with current research being done as well as independent tasks in the lab. Upon completion of the internship the students are awarded a $3,000 bursary, provided by the BC Cancer Foundation.  www.bccancerfoundation.com/vi. Without the generous donations to BC Cancer Foundation from people throughout Vancouver Island, the high school intern program would not be possible. To find out about named fund opportunities or how to make a charitable donation in support of the high school intern program please contact Carla Funk at the BC Cancer Foundation.  cfunk@bccancer.bc.ca The bursary is awarded to the students upon enrollment in a post-secondary education. The funds are held for a maximum of 3 years. Part 2 of the agreement is the interns must participate in the Outreach Program starting in September.

Secondary schools on Vancouver Island are invited to nominate 2 Grade 11 students from their school, who will be 16 years of age at the time of the internship. Each school determines how they will proceed with this nomination. Applications must be submitted by March 1st of each year. Students who will not be 16 years at the time of internship are invited to submit an application which will be considered for the High School Outreach Program and then re-apply as one of the 2 nominees in their Grade 12 year for the internship.

2004 was the first year we offered this program and it continues to be a great success each year.

By applying to the High School Internship Program (see guidelines and application form for 2010), the students who are nominated are all invited to come to the Deeley Research Centre in April 2010 for a one day Cancer Education Retreat. This is our way of recognizing their accomplishment of being nominated and giving them all a peak into the cancer research world. It is a lot of fun and the kids get to meet the research team and do some hands on research in the lab and draw some conclusions based on their results.

Congratulations to the 2009 High School Interns

David Ou - Parkland Secondary

Katie Neale - Oak Bay Secondary School

Keely Hammond - Mt. Doug Secondary

Janine Hsu - St. Michaels Secondary School

For more information, please click on the links or contact Ann-Marie Braithwaite, Program Co-ordinator at 250-519-5732 or by email  abraithwaite@bccancer.bc.ca