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This year's graduating class from Bladensburg High School included some pioneers, the first students to graduate from the school's biomedical program.

The math and science program, which is the only one of its kind in Prince George's County, prepares students for health and science careers. It began at Bladensburg four years ago and draws students from around the county.

To be admitted, students must have good school attendance, teacher recommendations, a minimum 3.0 grade point average and meet other curriculum requirements.

Students in the program spent four years taking advanced placement classes, attending science-related field trips, volunteering, conducting lab work and interning, program coordinator Alma Smith said.

Smith said the program was designed to prepare students for the rigorous coursework they would encounter as college freshmen.

"We wanted to give them an exposure to the preparatory science courses so that when they get to college it'll be a review and reinforcement," Smith said.

Smith said there "is no chartered course for this program" so she is proud of what the first class accomplished.

"There were students who felt they couldn't learn in the anatomy course — that it was too stringent or too rigorous. To see those students grow and mature and matriculate through the program, and that they stayed with us and finished the program, is an exhilarating feeling," Smith said.

The program had its ups and downs, Jennifer Oyedele, 18, of Lanham said. The recent graduate had to commute to school for three years by taking two Metro buses every day.

Transportation for biomedical program students living outside Bladensburg High's boundaries has been an issue this school year. Busing is available to Career and Technical Education students in the county, but not for those in the biomedical program. County school officials have said transportation was not included in the program's original budget and that the school must find the money to add bus service.

Smith said the 2009 class initially had 42 students and dropped to 32 who graduated, partially because of the transportation problem. Smith said she would like bus service, but sees the program continuing without it.

"We're hoping that with the accomplishments of the first class, we can use that to attract more students who are willing to make that sacrifice [of commuting]," she said.

The graduating seniors earned at least $2.8 million in scholarships and were admitted to schools such as Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Cornell University in New York and Stanford University in California, Smith said.

Bladensburg High has had a new principal every year for the past four years. Current principal Glynis Jordan showed "willingness and flexibility and understanding" in allowing the biomedical students to pursue new opportunities, such as working at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., Smith said. One student was offered a full-time job at the university as a result.

Olamilekan Solarin, 18, of Bladensburg will major in mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins in the fall. He enrolled in the biomedical program as a freshman and said it made his high school experience better.

"It was more like the camaraderie, a family experience, because we were in the same classes for about four years and we got to be friends and know each other very well," he said. "The teacher could split us up into any groups, and you'd be fine with it because you knew everybody in the class and you knew how to work with everybody in the class. It was easy to learn in that environment."

The prospect of attending a competitive college such as Hopkins doesn't faze Solarin.

"I feel more prepared because I was in the [biomedical] program with serious-minded kids," he said.

Oyedele transferred to Bladensburg from Parkdale High School in Riverdale to enroll in the biomedical program. She will pursue her plan to become a biomedical engineer at Stanford.

Oyedele said many other high schools don't stress internships and networking, as did the biomedical program.

"Academics is really not everything; it is the foundation. But when you're applying to schools, it is nice to be involved [in other activities]," she said. "I cannot say I always studied science but I have been able to do my own research."

Oydele interned for the Water Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C. Other students interned for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. Oydele said her classmates set the standard for future biomedical students.

"We kind of proved ourselves," she said. "Now, [other students] know there is a way. It's not impossible to get higher than a 4.0 and it's not impossible to get into Hopkins, Stanford and those other places."

E-mail Elahe Izadi at

eizadi@gazette.net.