The Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Program at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute (NCI) R25- funded training grant, designed to increase the pipeline of underrepresented minor­ity (URM) students entering college and pursuing biomedical research and health care careers in the Cleveland Metropolitan and surrounding school districts. The three components of the program include: Learn to Beat Cancer, engaging middle school students and their families; Research to Beat Cancer, designed for high school students and college undergraduates; and Teach to Beat Cancer, focused on enhancing science, technology, engineering, and mathemat­ics (STEM) teaching capacity among high school teachers. This study focuses on Research to Beat Cancer, which, in 2018 enrolled 36 URM students as paid sum­mer scholars. Students were assigned to a faculty mentor, were taught laboratory safety, responsible conduct of research and the scientific method, and then immersed in full-time laboratory cancer research during an eight-week period. Twice each week, students participated in Lunch and Learn Seminars where faculty members provided combined motivational and scientific guid­ance lectures. In a capstone poster session at the end of the program, students pre­sented their research to peers, medical and graduate students, family members, faculty, community members and leaders. Students’ perceptions of the program were reported using descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analyses. Twenty-four of the 2018 YES students (67%) and 19 (53%) mentors completed the online post-program survey. Opportunity was a major qualitative theme from student and mentor responses. Future research will investigate the long-term im­pacts of YES, including college enrollment. Ethn Dis. 2020;30(1):15-24; doi:10.18865/ ed.30.1.15