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For the past two summers, 17-year-old Kendall Smith awoke at 5 a.m. to join the fight against cancer.

The high school senior from Accokeek in Prince George's County made the long trek to the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda as part of an internship at the National Cancer Institute. A summer student at the institute's Center for Cancer Research, Smith not only tested cancer cells, but had the emotional experience of "not only meeting the patients, but learning their stories and what they had to go through."

"I actually worked side by side with a doctor," Smith said of his experience working with a leading cancer researcher.

What's helped him on his path to a career in medicine is an annual one-day event called SciLife. The seminar and educational session, put on by NIH's Office of Science Education, is designed to chart a course for high school students interested in careers in medicine, and help parents understand the best options available for their children.

Through seminars on college admissions, scholarships in science and medicine, finding a way to succeed in the high school academic environment, and a chance to meet young medical professionals who can serve as mentors, SciLife attempts to ensure students from underserved communities don't miss out on a chance at a successful career in science. A little bit of science gets thrown into some presentations, where students can learn about the differences between positive stress (called "eustress") and negative stress.

This year, 250 students and 150 parents signed up to attend SciLife, which took place on Saturday. Many of the students come from communities that don't necessarily provide everyday examples to young people showing that they can have productive and advanced careers in science, said Dr. Bruce Fuchs, director of the Office of Science Education.

SciLife tracks students to see how they progress in their studies, and the program is also trying to recruit teen mentors to guide future events and outreach efforts.

"A large part of it is getting them to focus intentionally on what they'd like to do," Fuchs said.

Juan Canel was at his second SciLife event, trying to meet as many like-minded peers as possible. The 17-year-old Wheaton High School senior works part-time at Washington Adventist Hospital as a receptionist on top of his advanced science courses, so he especially appreciated how SciLife taught him how to balance his life as well as prepare for his future.

"We could all talk about it and network, and we were meeting all these different people that were really high in their specialties," said Canel, a Silver Spring resident.

Growing up on Staten Island in New York City, first-year Georgetown University medical school student Oswaldo Aguirre got involved in medicine because of his father's open-heart surgery and subsequent insurance problems, but didn't have anyone to help answer basic questions when he expressed interest in a medical career.

He was one of eight volunteers in white lab coats from Georgetown to attend SciLife on Saturday, talking with the students and hopefully giving them a positive preview of a medical career.

"If we can get more people from different backgrounds...into such a privileged career, I would be honored to know that these are my future colleagues," Aguirre said.

Kendall is trying to find science scholarships to college, and he wants to learn advanced practice nursing before he even gets into a pre-med course of study in higher education. But the experience and knowledge he has accumulated has given Kendall the right mixture of confidence and preparation.

"All the time I've put in has given me no option but to succeed," he said.