HSTA-AL is a STEM program funded by the SEPA Grant and facilitated in the Capstone College of Nursing. It prioritizes exposing minority students from rural Alabama to the university setting and to the biomedical sciences. The program is led by high school teachers throughout the year, but during the summer children are invited to the university where they will interact with faculty, staff, and university students. Our goal is to increase the number of rural students who choose to enter STEM fields and ultimately a biomedical profession.