ST. LOUIS • A couple years ago, Gabriel Hernandez couldn't imagine going into a chemistry-related field. The thought of science in general didn't even interest him.

Then he did well in a high school junior biology class and got an offer to participate in a chemistry program called Project SEED, created by the American Chemical Society to encourage economically disadvantaged students to study chemistry. He would be paid to work 40 hours a week in a chem lab at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

He hadn't done very well in high school chemistry and didn't know what to expect. But he needed money for a car, and he thought the program might look good on a college resume.

Hernandez, 18, of St. Louis, didn't expect that the program would change his outlook on science and his future goals. Now, in his second summer of the program, he's planning to take three chemistry classes his first semester at Simpson College in Iowa and hopes one day to work on curing cancer.

"I really fell in love with science," Hernandez said in his white smock with red and brown stains on the front surrounded by containers of chemicals. "I knew nothing about chemical reactions when I came here; now I am doing stuff I probably wouldn't get the chance to do until grad school."

All around the country, hundreds of students like Hernandez are participating in the two-month program sponsored by dozens of universities and the American Chemical Society.

Any college can choose to participate but must match the ACS' donation to pay the students for their work. The participating college contacts high school teachers in the area to ask for recommendations of students. Different from other programs that bring high school students into a university lab, Project SEED focuses exclusively on helping economically disadvantaged students.

To qualify, a junior or senior in high school has to be from a family whose income is less than twice the federal poverty level.

Keith Stine, the coordinator of Project SEED at UMSL, said many times those in less fortunate circumstances don't have access to the same quality of science classes as perhaps those students from higher income areas and subsequently aren't as interested in science.

He said not only does the program expose students to chemistry, it shows them what college will be like and gets them excited about it.

"They see what it's like to be at a university, what the opportunities are and how to get the most out of their education," he said.

Marcel Douglas, 17, a recent graduate of Metro High, participated in the program last summer as an incoming senior and said it has jump-started his college preparation.

Almost every school he interviewed with asked him about Project SEED. And he believes the experience helped him get the scholarships he has for next year at Hendrix College in Arkansas.

"I don't think I would have been as prepared as I wanted to be, especially as far as research is concerned, which is required for graduate school," Douglas said.

Neither of Douglas' parents or grandparents made it to college. Douglas hopes to become a physician.

Hernandez, too, will be a first generation college graduate and also plans to attend graduate school.

Before Hernandez participated in the SEED program, he said the only lab experience he had was doing a couple of sodium experiments as a sophomore. Now he is creating his own molecules alongside graduates and post-doctorate students. He works with potassium cyanide, magnesium sulfate and liquid nitrogen, to name a few. He's even done experiments with rocket fuel.

By the end of his time there, he hopes to publish two or three papers on his work with coordination complexes and metal powders.

Not only can Hernandez now imagine himself working in chemistry, he already is.