Progress 07/15/23 to 07/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:In accordance with the first objective, this grant is currently supporting 8 students. However, while we estimated to support six females and two males, this grant is actually supporting seven females and one male. This is likely due to the demographics of the incoming Fall 2022 cohort of students in the Virginia Tech School of Animal Sciences. Following our objective of recruiting minority students to this program, four students identify as Black or African American, two students identify as Hispanic or Latino, and two students identify as American Indian or Alaska Native. Changes/Problems:This USDA grant has seen major changes in personnel. With the majority of the original grant team no longer affiliated with Virginia Tech. A new member, Dr. Katie Heiderscheit, who is a member of the undergraduate advising team, was added as grant personnel. The grant team faced some time management issues due to these personnel changes, and were unable to offer the travel opportunities during the second year of study. However, these should be resolved and we hope to take our students on the trips to government agencies during the third year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Though the timeline for the second objective is still in progress, the Scholars have completed four semesters in the program. Currently, five of our students have a cumulative GPA greater than a 3.0, while three have a GPA between a 2.0 and 3.0. This is an improvement on the previous academic year, when most of our students had a GPA between 2.0 and 3.0. In terms of their science courses that count as pre-requisites for veterinary school, most of our students that scored a grade lower than C on a pre-requisite course, have since retaken that course for a higher grade. One student has several science courses with a grade less than a C, however, utilized academic relief, began attending regular academic advising appointments, and the Student Opportunity & Achievement Resources Program (SOAR) coaching appointments. During the previous academic year, the grant coordinators held semi-monthly lunches to help students connect with each other. Scholars were also encouraged to attend academic success resources. The Virginia Tech Student Success Center offers free course-specific tutoring. Some courses in which free tutoring is offered include general biology, general chemistry, pre-calculus, calculus, and physics. The School of Animal Sciences also offers tutoring for major-specific courses (e.g. Animal Physiology and Anatomy) in the in-house Student Resource Center. The grant coordination team sent regular emails with schedules and links to these resources. Furthermore, the team plans to incorporate academic success initiatives and professional development into the seminar course the students will take this spring. Lastly, as academic advisors to the Scholars, the grant coordination team plans to reach out regularly and invite the students to make advising appointments to discuss strategies for academic success. To support students in finding internship opportunities during the previous summer (2023), the grant leadership team regularly provided links to resources where internship opportunities were found. Further, the students that completed APSC 2004 were required to attend the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Career Fair. Four of our students obtained paid internships in veterinary-related fields, the remaining students took summer courses to improve their pre-requisite course grades. During the previous school year, the team was unable to offer a second-year Professional Development course specific to the MSP scholarship students, however, 7 of the 8 students took APSC 2004 Animal and Poultry Sciences Seminar. This course focuses on resume writing, has a veterinary student panel discussion, and students attend a career fair. All of our students passed this course with a grade of A or B. The grant coordination team is working to develop a course for spring 2025 that will support the students in professional and career development endeavors. Since the MSP Scholars are entering their third year of study, the grant coordination team cannot assess success for objective 4. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This USDA grant has seen major changes in personnel. With the majority of the original grant team no longer affiliated with Virginia Tech. A new member, Dr. Katie Heiderscheit, who is a member of the undergraduate advising team, was added as grant personnel. The grant team faced some time management issues due to these personnel changes, and were unable to offer the travel opportunities during the second year of study. However, these should be resolved and we hope to take our students on the trips to government agencies during the third year. We look forward to supporting our students as they begin applying to veterinary school. We have a 1 credit course focused on careers in veterinary medicine, to offer them in spring semester. We also plan to travel with them to federal government offices.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The major goal of the project is to develop a replicable program with documented success of increasing recruitment and retention of students from under-represented populations seeking careers in veterinary medicine. Our objectives are to 1) support 8 students (8 minority, estimated 6 female and 2 male) with this grant; 2) have all scholars achieve academic success defined as a C or greater in each course required for vet school admission, and a 3.5 or greater average GPA by the end of five semesters; 3) determine if "undergraduate vet careers" Professional Development course yield positive effects on career interests as observed by others in a course focused on students already in the DVM program; 4) provide Scholars knowledge and skills such that nearly all graduate from VT and enter a DVM within two years of completing program; and 5) provide scholars with 2 significant summer experiential learning opportunities. The project is entering the third year, which is the first time point during which the scholarship students could apply to veterinary school. To our knowledge, one student is applying this cycle.

Publications

Progress 07/15/22 to 07/14/23

Outputs
Target Audience:In accordance with the first objective, this grant is currently supporting 8 students. However, while we estimated to support six females and two males, this grant is actually supporting seven females and one male. This is likely due to the demographics of the incoming Fall 2022 cohort of students in the Virginia Tech School of Animal Sciences. Following our objective of recruiting minority students to this program, four students identify as Black or African American, two students identify as Hispanic or Latino, and two students identify as American Indian or Alaska Native.? Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Due to a change in leadership within the grant coordination team, the team did not have the opportunity to support students in finding internship opportunities during the previous summer (2023). For the upcoming school year, we plan to direct the students to several resources where internship opportunities can be found. We will be providing communication about these resources on a regular basis and requiring that they obtain a paid internship for summer 2024. The Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is hosting a career fair in late October, along with a career fair preparatory event that includes a resume review session and a closet of professional clothes that students can borrow. Students will be directed to these events as part of this objective. Students did have the opportunity to participate in monthly lunch meetings. These meetings invited guests from the veterinary profession, current veterinary students, and faculty to discuss applying to vet school and life as a vet student and practicing veterinarian. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue offering the monthly lunch meetings with invited guests. Secondly we plan to offer a 1 credit colloquia course in spring semester, which will incorporate professional development, interviewing skills, and resume writing. Thirdly, we are working towards helping students secure paid internships for summer 2024. Students are being encouraged to attend the College Career Fair in October to meet with prospective employers and we are sending bi-weekly emails with internship opportunities.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In accordance with the first objective, this grant is currently supporting 8 students. However, while we estimated to support six females and two males, this grant is actually supporting seven females and one male. This is likely due to the demographics of the incoming Fall 2022 cohort of students in the Virginia Tech School of Animal Sciences. Following our objective of recruiting minority students to this program, four students identify as Black or African American, two students identify as Hispanic or Latino, and two students identify as American Indian or Alaska Native. Though the timeline for the second objective is still a few semesters out, the Scholars have completed two semesters in the program. At this time, two of our students have a cumulative GPA greater than a 3.0, while five students have a GPA between a 2.0 and 3.0, and one student has a GPA below a 2.0. In terms of their science courses that count as pre-requisites for veterinary school, four students have one course in which they scored less than a C, and one student has several science courses with a grade less than C. In order to better support the Scholars this academic year, the grant coordinators are planning monthly lunches to help students connect with each other. Scholars will also be encouraged to attend academic success resources. The Virginia Tech Student Success Center offers free course-specific tutoring. Some courses in which free tutoring is offered include general biology, general chemistry, pre-calculus, calculus, and physics. The School of Animal Sciences also offers tutoring for major-specific courses (e.g. Animal Physiology and Anatomy) in the in-house Student Resource Center. The grant coordination team intends to send regular emails with schedules and links to these resources. Furthermore, the team plans to incorporate academic success initiatives and professional development into the seminar course the students will take this spring. Lastly, as academic advisors to the Scholars, the grant coordination team plans to reach out on a regular basis and invite the students to make advising appointments to discuss strategies for academic success. During the previous school year, the team was unable to offer a first-year Professional Development course. However, the grant coordination team has since had a change in leadership and membership and is working to develop a course for spring that will support the students in professional and career development endeavors. Since the MSP Scholars are currently entering their second year of study, the grant coordination team is not able to assess success for objective 4.

Publications

Progress 07/15/21 to 07/14/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the work done in this reporting cycle was all students who applied to Virginia Tech for admission in fall 2023 who applied to the departments of Animal and Poultry Science OR Dairy Science AND who met the USDA definition for under-represented minorities (URM). In advance of the beginning of the program, in late winter 2021, the PIs organized a related national recruiting effort to reach potential candidates who were then in the spring of their junior year of high school. This was a widely advertised national zoom meeting targeted at all URM students across the US who had reached out to the university admissions office expressing interest in veterinary medicine. Outreach included email invitations, social media posts. Nearly 500 students and parents participated. We believe this pre-project effort (the first such program explicitly conducted by the VT College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) is the reason for the greater than 70% response rate to the eventual invitation to apply. Changes/Problems:As planned, expenditures began at the very end of year 1, with scholarships awarded to the 9 Scholars selected. That is just outside the window that this progress report covers. Unexpectedly, the lead PD (Knowlton) suffered a serious personal loss and was far less involved than planned. The co-PDs stepped up but the inaccessibility of PD Knowlton led to delays in recruiting. Fortunately we had tremendous response to our outreach efforts to reach ALL students qualified to apply for the program (that is, all URM accepted to the departments of Animal and Poultry Science and Dairy Science. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The community of interest (potential students with a veterinary medicine interest from under-represented minority groups) were reached by email, personal phone calls, and social media platforms. 41 were identified and invited; 29 submitted applications; 9 were selected. (Review and selection occured in early August 2022, so will be covered in more detail in the 2nd year progress report.) What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Applications will be reviewed by the PDs, and scholars selected. Programming will begin at the start of the fall semester (late August 2022) and will include a kickoff meeting, monthly luncheons, common lab sections and individual meetings with PDs Knowlton, Cockrum, Pelzer and Thorpe. Scholars will attend conferences as described in the grant proposal.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In this cycle the committee (all project PDs and co-PDs) recruited potential applicants and solicited applications.The community of interest (potential students with a veterinary medicine interest from under-represented minority groups) were reached by email, personal phone calls, and social media platforms. 41 were identified and invited. In this cycle the project PDs met four times to plan programming, designate roles and responsibilities, create the program application, identify potential applicants and begin planning for the early year 2 programming.

Publications