High school students from the Netherlands joined the reNEW Leiden UniStem Day 2024 event, designed to provide students an opportunity to learn, discover and discuss the power and potential of stem cell research, to transform medicine. We started with a broad introduction to the field by Prof. Christine Mummery, followed by the perspective of a student-researcher and type-1 diabetes patients. A PhD student from the ethics department then showed her research on type-1 diabetes. Lastly, Amy and Esther from OtoBiology Leiden provided a sneak peek of what it really means to work in a laboratory and what different paths you can take to get there!