Author: Adiki Puplampu
Date: 25 September 2026
For Clare Adebola, the ELITE Program experience helped her paint a clearer picture of her professional future. A Grade 12 student as of September 2026, Clare spent the summer working as an intern in the Institute for Smart Augmentative and Restorative Technologies and Health Innovations (iSMART) lab at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Vivian Mushahwar.
In this role, Clare contributed to the development of a robotic insertion tool for use by neurosurgeons to aid in restoring motor function to individuals who have suffered spinal cord injuries. For Clare, this work involved designing prototypes, 3D printing, and theoretically stimulating the insertion tool’s performance in various substances. True to the scientific method, this work required many trials, giving her practical experience in the intricate and sometimes tedious world of research.
A first time ELITE Program applicant, when Clare first learned about the program she was drawn to the learning opportunities provided by the wrap-around programming and in particular the Entrepreneurship Design Series. Though she was originally drawn in by the Entrepreneurship Design Series, both the Design Series and the Wellness and Coaching Series met and even exceeded her learning expectations. From the Entrepreneurship Design Series, she advanced her public communication skills and learned methods to better share her ideas with others. During the Wellness and Coaching Series, they explored topics that were less familiar to her including methods to deal with stress and microaggressions.
At the end of her ELITE Program experience, Clare, who’s always been interested in physics and has recently developed an interest in electro technologies, says that the research experience that she gained in the ELITE Program has helped to reshape her professional aspirations. After high school, Clare would like to pursue electrical engineering in her undergraduate studies and now, with this research experience under her belt, aspires to apply this education to biomedical research.
“I’m so grateful for this opportunity; this experience has really opened my eyes to what I like as a person and what I want to spend the rest of my life doing.”
We wish Clare the very best as she begins her last year of high school and continues to shape and mold her professional future.