About 70 high school students from Santa Barbara County participated in UCSB’s Research Mentorship Program (RMP). RMP allows a select group of 10th- and 11th-graders to conduct collaborative, graduate-level research during a six-week program preparing them for post-high school. This six-week program accepted high-achieving high school students from all over the world and offered them a variety of interdisciplinary projects to choose from. Then, each carefully selected mentor guided the student interns through the academic research process and as a result prepared them to communicate intelligently about their discipline. In addition to gaining a deep relationship with their mentor and the academic benefits, the student interns were submersed into University life and networked with equally ambitious and curious peers.