Reported by Elissa Song
From the 21st of June to the 27th of June, 2026, AYLUS Lake Washington branch members Elissa Song and Anthony Cao (TA) hosted a week-long AP/Honors Biology Summer Camp for middle and high school students. The camp offered an enriching educational experience, helping students explore advanced concepts in biology and introductory concepts to chemistry based off of the typical Advanced Placement curriculum. During each session of the camp our team members served as instructors, provided homework support, answered student questions, dedicated time to reviewing and correcting assignments, and corresponded with parents about camp information or sending them slides and videos. Over the course of seven sessions, participants engaged with core topics that are essential for scoring well on the AP exam, and also learned how to answer AP-style biology practice problems.
Day 5: Genetics pt. 1 (heredity)
Students learned about how genes are inherited from parents and mechanisms in gametic cells. We covered meiosis, processes governing genetic variation (independent assortment, random fertilization, crossing over), nondisjunction, mendelian genetics, non-mendelian genetics (pleiotropy, incomplete dominance, co-dominance, polygenic inheritance, non-nuclear inheritance), Punnett squares, pedigrees, gene linkage, and environment effects on genotype. We went into the specifics of heredity, and used case studies to analyze them. We also did some AP practice problems.
Volunteer hours:
Elissa Song: 3.5 hrs
Anthony Cao: 2.5 hrs
