Progress 08/01/10 to 07/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:During this final grant extension period, the grant continued to provide supporttothe last seven PTSPII/USDA targetedSanta Ana College studentstransferring fall 2015 and pursuing a degree in USDA related majors such as Biology, Nutrition, Geography and Engineering.Services provided includedtransfercounseling; staff support;participation in transfer mentorship program; internship opportunities; field trips; andfinancial assistance, as well as disseminated the second half of the $40,000 dollar scholarship to Geovanni Salgado, who graduated this year from Humboldt State Universitywith a Bachelors Degree inWildlife Conservation Biology/Applied Vertebrate Technology. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?a) Threeprogram staff andtwenty students attended professional conferences including the California Dietetics Association (CDA) and Minorities in Agricultural, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS). b) The Project Co-Principal Investigators attended the USDA HSI Program Directors meeting and the NACTA Conferences in 2010, 2011, 2012 and did poster presentations at every conference. c) SAC faculty and twenty-two counselors were inserviced about USDA-related careers andhow to preparestudents for transfer into targeted majors. d) Three USDA career panels were conducted with more that ninety students in attendancein collaboration with USDA Forest Service, California WIC, Irvine Ranch Conservancy, Latino Health Access, and Santa Ana Unified School District. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Program brochures, program posters and website were developed. The results of the PTSPII/USDAgrantwere included in the State's Program Academic Progres Report (PA/PR) for Santa Ana College, and the $40,000 scholarship award was presented to the student Geovanni Salgado during the 2013 Transfer Celebration for Santa Ana College in front of anaudience of more that 400 people including community leaders, Santa Ana College faculty and administration, university representatives,thetransferclass and their parents. Finally, several newspaper articles appeared in local newspapers featuringinformation about thePTSPII/USDAprogram and our scholarship recipient Geovanni Salgado. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The impactachieved by thePTSPII project at Santa Ana Collegeraised awareness of career options available in USDA related fields among a highly diverse student population totaling over 900 SAUSD high school students. Attracted, retained and ensured successful university transfer of thirty eight out of theforty targeted students (95% transfer rate) pursuing USDA related majors through individualized transfer support and counseling services; participation in experiential learning (Internships); field trips; career panels; conference attendance; and provided financial support totalling $107,000 in the form of student stipends and scholarships. The student passing rate of the PTSPII Learning Community English 101 was 76% as compared to 65% of the general population enrolled in the same course.Fifty eight students attended a USDA Careers Panel. Over 2900 hours were contributed by program participants to the Community thorugh internships, and a $40,000 scholarship was awarded to one student who transfer and graduated successfully from Humboldt State University. PTSPII grant evaluation data demonstrated that participants gained crucial information concerning higher education in terms of academic guidance and transfer processes. It also confirmed that PTSPII students consistently demonstrated higher levels of adjustment to both academic and social spheres of college life in comparison to the Santa Ana College control group. This program demonstrated continued success in recruitment and retention of underrepresented students, providing resources needed to be successful at the community college and throughout the transfer process while majoring in food, agriculture, natural resources and related science fields. The success of this program has encouraged support for student research and internship experiences campus-wide.
Publications
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Progress 08/01/13 to 07/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: During this extension, the grant has continued to provide support to nineteen Santa Ana College students interested in pursuing a degree in USDA related majors such as Biology, Nutrition, Geography, and Engineering by providing transfer counseling, staff support, placement in transfer a mentorship program, internship opportunities, field trips, and financial assistance. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This year program staff and four students attended the annual MANRRS conference in Birmingham, Alabama. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The progress of this project has been diseminated in the Counseling Yearly In-service, in the Santa Ana College website, and in various newpaper articles featuring our scholarship recipient, Geovani Salgado. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The Program Director will continue to provide individual counseling support to seven PTSP II participants who will be transfer fall 2015, and provide them the opportunity to conduct USDA related career internship. Lastly, program staff will be disseminating the second half of the scholarship for $20,000, to Geovanni Salgado to continue his senior year at Humboldt State University.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In year four, the Santa Ana College Partnership for Transfer Success in USDA Career Majors Program II (PTSPII) continued to offer internship opportunities to program participants, eight students completed an internship providing over 600 hours of community service to the Orange County area within this year totaling over 2500 hours in the past four years. Moreover, this year the grant matched seven PTSPII students with PTSPI alumni to receive weekly college mentoring. In addition, two field trips were conducted one to California State University, Long Beach with twenty three students in attendance, and a second trip to the Southern California Universities including San Diego State University, University of California, San Diego, and University of San Diego, with nineteen students in attendance. Four students and one staff member attended the annual MANRRS Conference held in Birmingham, Alabama. Thirty individual academic counseling appointments were conducted and a total of ten students transferred to the following universities (2) CSU Long Beach, (1) CSU Pomona, (1) CSU Fresno, (1) CSU Dominguez Hills, (1) CSU San Bernardino, (1) UC Davis (2) UC Irvine, (2) UC Los Angeles and (1) UC Riverside. Lastly, half of the forty thousand dollars scholarship was awarded to one Hispanic student, Geovanni Salgado, pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Conservation Biology/Applied Vertebrate Ecology at Humboldt State University.
Publications
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Progress 08/01/12 to 07/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: In year three, the Santa Ana College Partnership for Transfer Success in USDA career majors program II (PTSPII) has provided transfer counseling, staff support, mentoring, internship opportunites, field trips and financial assistance to a targeted audience composed of thirty-two underrepresented minority Santa Ana College students pursuing USDA related majors such as Biology, Business, Nutrition, Geography, and Engineering. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This year the Program Director participated in proffessional development at the NACTA conference in Blacksburg Virginia, and Program Staff accompanied four students to the MANRRS conference in Sacramento California, How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The results of this year's acclomplishments have been included in the State's Program Academic Progress Report (PA/PR) for Santa Ana College, and the scholarship award was presented during to the Transfer Celebration for Santa Ana College to an audience of 400+ parents, students, faculty and administration attending the event. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The Program Director will continue to provide individual conseling support to the seventeen PTSPII participants who will be transferring fall 2014, and will be disseminating scholarship funds to Giovanni Salgado, USDA/PTSPII scholarship recipient, during the following two years. In addition, the sevbenteen remaining PTSP/USDAII students will be attending university field trips, conducting internships, participating in the Transfer Mentor Program, and successfully transitioning to various universities in USDA related fields.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In year three, the Partnership for Transfer Success in USDA Career Majors Program II (PTSPII) achieved the following acomplishments: Thirty-two PTSP(II) students participated in a total of sixty academic counseling sessions, Twenty-five students completed internships totalling more than 1900 hours of community service to local commuties, four PTSP II transfer students received college mentoring from PTSP I alumni, and fourteen students transferred to the following institutions into USDA related fields: UCLA (3), USC (2), CSU Pomona (3), CSU Humboldt (1), CSU Fullerton (2), CSU Long Beach(2), UC Irvine (1). Also, in this year, the grant hired an external evaluator to conduct an evaluation of the PTSPII program. Fourteen PTSP students participated in a focus group and survey. The PTSP evaluator found there were highly significant findings concerning PTSPII students’ adjustment to college in comparison to the general Santa Ana College population. Also, PTSPII students consistently demonstrated higher levels of adjustment to both academic and social spheres of college life. A complete copy of the evaluation has been forwarded to Dr. Lawrence at the USDA, HSI Agency. Lastly, this year a scholarship committee was created in order to award a single forty thousand scholarship to the most deserving PTSPII candidate. Geovanni Salgado was selected by the PTSPII committee and he will be attending Humboldt State University this fall 2013, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Conservation Biology/Applied Vertebrate Ecology.
Publications
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Progress 08/01/11 to 07/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: In year two, the Santa Ana College Partnership for Transfer Success in USDA career majors program II (PTSP II) has accomplished the following outputs: thirty students enrolled and participated in a learning community pairing a College Composition Course(English 101)with a Counseling 116 course featuring curriculum that has been adapted to focus on USDA career field exploration, where students participated in self development excercises, educational planning, career exploration, support services and experiential learning opportunities. This project targets a total of forty students pursuing FANNERS majors who will receive individual guidance from project counselor and staff support every semester until they transfer to the university. The PTSP II Project's Director and a PTSP student program participant attended the USDA HIS meeting in Edinburg Texas in May 2012, and conducted a poster presentation highlighting the project's success. In addition,program students participated in several conferences, student career pannels, university field trips, and resume workshops. PARTICIPANTS: Martha Vargas: As Co-Principal Investigator, one of her roles was to co-present a project poster at the USDA HSI meeting in Edinburg, Texas in May 2012 (no grant funds went directly towards Ms. Vargas' salary for this event). Geraldine Rodriguez, was the PTSP USDA II student who co-presented at the meeting. Cecilia Arriaza: Co-Principal investigator, along with Martha Vargas, collected the data and created the poster that was presented at the annual Project Directors Meeting (no grant funds went directly towards Ms. Arriaza's salary for this event). Martha Vargas revised the curriculum for the standard counseling course focused on USDA related career and activities, and taught the course during the fall 2011 semester. Maribel Pineda and Eva Palomares: As the two Transfer Center Specialists, they were responsible for the recruitment of the initial thirty students for the class, student recruitment and attendance to MANRRs and CDA conferences, coordination of two field trips (one to Cal Poly Pomona and another to the Irvine Ranch Conservancy), and provided assistance to thirty project participants with resume preparation. This resulted in services provided to a total of 110 students. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience during the second year of the project was Latino first-year community college students attending Santa Ana College. Program efforts included individual and group counseling regarding educational planning and transfer requirements, career workshops, students participation in field trips, USDA career panel, and attendance to three conferences. All these activities have been designed to inform and prepare students for transfer to various universities majoring in USDA related fields. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
As a result of the learning community, including an college composition course and the adaptation of a counseling curriculum course to USDA majors, twenty-two out of twenty-nine students completed the college composition course sucessfully (seventy-five percent passing rate), and twenty-seven out of twenty-nine completed the counseling course (ninety-three percent passing rate). The Program Director met individually with PTSP II participants for a total of fifty-six appointments during the academic year. Seven students and the Co-director of the program attended the MANNRS 2012 conference, two nutrition students attended the California Dietetics Association Conference 2012, fifteen students visited Cal Poly Pomona University, and thirteen students visited the Irvine Ranch Conservancy Program in spring 2012. Fifty-eight students attended a USDA Career Panel in fall 2011. PTSP II staff conducted a student mixer with fourteen students in attendance, and met with thirty students to provide them with resume preparation assistance. Forty students are expected to be directly supported by the project by receiving a 500.00 dollar stipend upon successful completion of an internship in USDA related fields.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 08/01/10 to 07/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: In year one, the Santa Ana College Partnership for Transfer Succces in USDA career majors program II (PTSP II) has accomplished the following outputs: outreach and dissemination activities that served over five hundred High School students; development of USDA careers curriculum for both High School and Community College students; recruitment of thirty community college students into a learning community and dissemination of program activities and goals at a national conference. One hundred ninety eight high school students (including one hundred eighty identified as Hispanic/Latino) were introduced to USDA related educational opportunities and careers through classroom presentations. A power-point presentation and classroom lesson was created to teach groups of students about how agriculture impacts their daily lives, introduce them to the USDA and about career opportunities in Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (FANRRS). PTSP II staff also disseminated program information by participating in the college's Early Decision (ED) program. ED provides an orientation to the College for incoming freshman. Through these orientations, three hundred incoming freshmen from our predominantly Latino (95 percent) feeder school district were provided with information about USDA and the PTSP II program through flyers and or presentations. In addition, thirty students (twenty-eight Latinos) were recruited for participation in the learning community cohort that will begin in Fall 2011. This learning community links Freshman Composition (English 101) with a Career Counseling Course featuring curriculum that has been adapted to focus on USDA related fields (Counseling 116). These students will also receive individualized support from program staff and counselors to monitor their transfer progress. The PTSP II Co-Principal Investigators attended the USDA HSI Program Director's meeting in Arlington, VA Fall 2010. At this event, a poster was presented highlighting the programs' success from the prior award as well as planned program activities for PTSP II. PARTICIPANTS: Martha Vargas: Co-Principal Investigator While no grant funds went directly towards Ms. Vargas' salary, as Co-Principal Investigator, one of Martha Vargas' roles was to co-present the project at the annual USDA HSI Project Directors' meeting. In addition, she participated in laying the ground work and making connections with the local high schools to set up the presentations that were conducted in Spring 2011 by PTSP staff. Another responsibility was to liaison with the English Department staff and faculty to create the learning community cohort. Further, Ms. Vargas revised the curriculum for the standard career counseling course to focus on USDA related careers and activities. Along with Cecilia Arriaza, the other Co-Principal Investigator, Martha Vargas held phone conferences with the external program evaluator to coordinate evaluation goals and activities. Cecilia Arriaza: Co-Principal Investigator While no grant funds went directly towards Ms. Arriaza's salary, as Co-Principal Investigator, Cecilia Arriaza collected data and created the poster that she co-presented at the annual USDA HSI Project Directors' meeting. Ms. Arriaza also coordinated initial program logistics with our district office to set up budgets, hire staff and get the project underway. She oversaw the staff and their assignments and collaborated with the external evaluator. PTSP II Staff-Transfer Center Specialists: Two Transfer Center Specialists were hired from grant funds to carry out the program activities. They created the lesson and presented it in Fall 2010 at our participating High Schools. They were also instrumental in recruiting students for the learning community cohort. PTSP II staff also created program publications and created the program's website. Other duties included Transfer Center support in order to relieve Cecilia Arriaza from 25 percent of her responsibilities as Transfer Center Student Services Coordinator in order to serve on this project. Our Partner Organization was the Santa Ana Unified School District, more specifically Segerstrom and Godinez High Schools. These schools allowed PTSP II staff on campus to conduct presentations/lessons to seniors and to post flyers and brochures at their college centers. The counselors at these schools were extremely helpful in coordinating this effort. The Santa Ana College Department of English was a major collaborator in creating the learning community cohort. The campus already has a successful Freshman Experience program and this USDA learning community was integrated into that program. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience during the first year of the project was Latino High School students. Program activities were conducted in Santa Ana Unified Schools, as the district is 95 percent Latino. Program efforts included classroom lessons about USDA careers, and curriculum development in the way of revising the standard career counseling curriculum to infuse USDA related topics. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The outreach activities and lessons presented during the first year to high school and community college students increased students' knowledge about agriculture and USDA related fields. A pre and post survey was conducted with the 198 students who participated in the high school presentations to measure this. The results of the surveys indicate that students' knowledge about the USDA and related fields increased from a self-reported average of 1.2 to 3.8 (on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being highest). When asked to list 5 USDA related careers and majors prior to the lesson, no students were able to come up with a correct answer. However, after the lesson, the average student gave 4 correct answers. It is expected that the long term impact of this program will be that these students will be more likely to pursue and complete degrees that lead to careers in FANRRS. The curriculum developed for the presentations can be used with many more students in the future, thus having the potential to impact countless additional students by bring about awareness of the USDA and related fields.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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