UNION GAP, Wash. -- Students and teachers from La Salle and Wapato high schools are headed to Seattle today to participate in “Hutch High.”

About 250 high school students — mostly sophomores — from across the state will be attending the program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

They’ll have the chance to tour research labs, isolate and spool DNA, and use a germ-revealing black light to test their skills at hand washing, among other opportunities.

One of the best parts about the program is it’s free. “Hutch High” is made possible by Seattle philanthropist Althea Stroum and her late husband Samuel Stroum.

The couple began supporting “Hutch High” in 1999, allowing thousands of teenagers to be exposed to the science.

For more information, visit www.fhcrc.org.

-- Adriana Janovich