
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
There are a total of $36$ students in the program, with an equal number of middle school and high school students. If $y$ represents the number of middle school students, then the number of high school students is also $y$. Additionally, $20\%$ of the middle school students and $25\%$ of the high school students are part of the science club. Find the number of middle school students in the program.

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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