Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audiences for the fourth and final year of this project remained the same as the target areas named in years one, two, and three. First, we are interested in outreach to current Valencia students, particularly underrepresented minority (URM) students, who are undecided in their career or educational goals and open to learning about opportunities in USDA priority areas. Second, we are connecting with current Valencia students who have expressed an interest in pursuing an educational program that falls in a USDA priority area and aligns with a transfer program at our university partner. We now have a total of 139 students who have completed an enrollment form and actively participated in at least one of our project activities. Third, we are conducting outreach to students in our partner K-12 school district, The School District of Osceola County (SDOC), who may not yet be aware of the diversity of career opportunities available to them in USDA priority areas. We presented to 566 SDOC students this year from six different schools. During the course of the four years of this project we presented to more than 2,200 K-12 students. Changes/Problems:The major challenge that all of us faced the second half of the academic year was the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the closures to programs and facilities that followed. We had to cancel field trips and presentations that were scheduled in the spring term. While these cancellations were very unfortunate, they did not keep us from meeting the major Year 4 objectives of the project. Our SDOC school presentations were all completed by January. Advising and tutoring services translated to remote delivery and were able to continue through the remaining spring weeks and summer term. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project PI, project assigned academic advisor, and a faculty member were all able to participate with students in professional conferences with tracks designed to promote the success of students in Hispanic-serving institutions. The planned presentation of Valencia's transfer relationship to UF CALS programs to more than 60 high school counselors was cancelled due to COVID-19. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about all Project SALSA activities and outcomes is shared regularly at each Advisory Committee Meeting. Project SALSA information has also been shared with targeted SDOC faculty and staff during the year through their College and Career Counselors and Extension Faculty. The Project SALSA advisor maintains a Canvas resource course with program information for all Project SALSA student participants. Canvas is Valencia College's learning management system. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is the final reporting period for this project. We plan to continue our collaboration with the University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (UF CALS) and explore adding additional transfer plans to UF CALS programs into our college catalog.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1.1: During the final year, presentations were made for six different School District of Osceola County (SDOC) schools to 566 total students. Student participants were surveyed and the percentage of students who reported an increased awareness of educational programs in the agricultural and life sciences exceeded 88% or higher at each school. In addition, from 11%-54% of the respondents indicated that they were "very interested" the programs highlighted in the presentations. During the course of the entire project, presentations were made to 2,203 K-12 students. Objective 1.2: There were more than 20 different presentations and tabling events during the academic year made available to current Valencia students to become more aware of educational and career opportunities in the agricultural and life sciences. The presentations primarily included visits to SLS1122 New Student Experience classes. In addition, we had two different campus tabling events in the fall term, one of which included an advisor from the University of Florida's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Unfortunately, spring presentations and tabling events were canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. There were more than 91 presentations completed during the four-year project. Objective 1.3: There were 39 successful Valencia College applicants to UF CALS during Year 4 of this project. This brings the total number of successful applicants during the four-year project to 166, which exceeds the project objective of 100 successful applicants. Objective 1.5: The online application and database for current Valencia students to register for Project SALSA participation was completed in Year 1 and has served this purpose in Year 2 through Year 4. We had a total of 139 unduplicated students who formally signed up as Project SALSA participants since its beginning and 70 of them were actively involved at some point during Year 4. Twenty of those students graduated during Year 4. As outreach was one of the project objectives, many Valencia students participated in presentations or activities throughout the project that were not formally signed up as Project SALSA participants. Some of these students also successfully applied to UF CALS programs. Objective 1.6: Presentations were developed and implemented for six SDOC schools including five high schools and one elementary school, for a total of 566 SDOC students. Five of the six schools were Title 1 schools with substantial Hispanic enrollment. In all six schools the percentage of students who reported on the post-survey that they were more informed about UF CALS programs was 88% or higher. The percentage of students who indicated they were very interested in these programs varied from 11% to 54%. During the course of the project, 22 SDOC school visits were completed including 2,203 students. Objective 1.7: Students register to participate in Project SALSA using the online form in our Atlas portal. Once that form is received, our program advisor contacts them to schedule a one-on-one advising session. During the advising sessions, students are connected to our learning support resources and activities based on their individual interests and needs. The online form also creates a communication list so regular communications may be sent to the Project SALSA participants throughout the year. Our project directly provided $12,200 in scholarshipsto students this year and $23,000 for the entire project. Our partnership with other programs brought several other external scholarships to Project SALSA participants over the course of the 4-year project. Project SALSA also provided 10,188 hours of math and science tutoring support across the four year program. Objective 1.8: Staff from UF CALS worked with Valencia staff to develop a fourth UF CALS transfer plan for Natural Resource Conservation for Valencia's catalog. The transfer plan was approved by Valencia's College-wide Curriculum Committee and included in Valencia's 2020-2021 College Catalog. This makes Natural Resource Conservation much more visible to Valencia students. In addition, the hybrid version of BSC1011C Biology 2 that was developed in Year 2 continued to be offered as an option for students in Year 4. In total, four transfer plans were developed in partnership with UF CALS including: Food Science, Plant Science, Environmental Management, and Natural Resource Conservation. Objective 1.9: We were able to send 11 students and three staff members to three different professional conferences. We sponsored fall term field trips for natural resource conservation and horticulture. We toured UF CALS facilities in beef production and food science. Most of our spring term field trips and student applications for summer research experiences were cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In total, the project was able to provide 22 students with conference attendance experiences and connect 20 students with full-time summer research opportunities.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/16 to 08/20/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audiences for the fourth and final year of this project remained the same as the target areas named in years one, two, and three. First, we are interested in outreach to current Valencia students, particularly underrepresented minority (URM) students, who are undecided in their career or educational goals and open to learning about opportunities in USDA priority areas. Second, we are connecting with current Valencia students who have expressed an interest in pursuing an educational program that falls in a USDA priority area and aligns with a transfer program at our university partner. We now have a total of 139 students who have completed an enrollment form and actively participated in at least one of our project activities. Third, we are conducting outreach to students in our partner K-12 school district, The School District of Osceola County (SDOC), who may not yet be aware of the diversity of career opportunities available to them in USDA priority areas. We presented to 566 SDOC students this year from six different schools. During the course of the four years of this project we presented to more than 2,200 K-12 students. Changes/Problems:The major challenge that all of us faced the second half of the academic year was the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the closures to programs and facilities that followed. We had to cancel field trips and presentations that were scheduled in the spring term. While these cancellations were very unfortunate, they did not keep us from meeting the major Year 4 objectives of the project. Our SDOC school presentations were all completed by January. Advising and tutoring services translated to remote delivery and were able to continue through the remaining spring weeks and summer term. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project PI, project assigned academic advisor, and a faculty member were all able to participate with students in professional conferences with tracks designed to promote the success of students in Hispanic-serving institutions. The planned presentation of Valencia's transfer relationship to UF CALS programs to more than 60 high school counselors was cancelled due to COVID-19. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about all Project SALSA activities and outcomes is shared regularly at each Advisory Committee Meeting. Project SALSA information has also been shared with targeted SDOC faculty and staff during the year through their College and Career Counselors and Extension Faculty. The Project SALSA advisor maintains a Canvas resource course with program information for all Project SALSA student participants. Canvas is Valencia College's learning management system. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is the final reporting period for this project. We plan to continue our collaboration with the University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (UF CALS) and explore adding additional transfer plans to UF CALS programs into our college catalog.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1.1: During the final year, presentations were made for six different School District of Osceola County (SDOC) schools to 566 total students. Student participants were surveyed and the percentage of students who reported an increased awareness of educational programs in the agricultural and life sciences exceeded 88% or higher at each school. In addition, from 11%-54% of the respondents indicated that they were "very interested" the programs highlighted in the presentations. During the course of the entire project, presentations were made to 2,203 K-12 students. Objective 1.2: There were more than 20 different presentations and tabling events during the academic year made available to current Valencia students to become more aware of educational and career opportunities in the agricultural and life sciences. The presentations primarily included visits to SLS1122 New Student Experience classes. In addition, we had two different campus tabling events in the fall term, one of which included an advisor from the University of Florida's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Unfortunately, spring presentations and tabling events were canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. There were more than 91 presentations completed during the four-year project. Objective 1.3: There were 39 successful Valencia College applicants to UF CALS during Year 4 of this project. This brings the total number of successful applicants during the four-year project to 166, which exceeds the project objective of 100 successful applicants. Objective 1.5: The online application and database for current Valencia students to register for Project SALSA participation was completed in Year 1 and has served this purpose in Year 2 through Year 4. We had a total of 139 unduplicated students who formally signed up as Project SALSA participants since its beginning and 70 of them were actively involved at some point during Year 4. Twenty of those students graduated during Year 4. As outreach was one of the project objectives, many Valencia students participated in presentations or activities throughout the project that were not formally signed up as Project SALSA participants. Some of these students also successfully applied to UF CALS programs. Objective 1.6: Presentations were developed and implemented for six SDOC schools including five high schools and one elementary school, for a total of 566 SDOC students. Five of the six schools were Title 1 schools with substantial Hispanic enrollment. In all six schools the percentage of students who reported on the post-survey that they were more informed about UF CALS programs was 88% or higher. The percentage of students who indicated they were very interested in these programs varied from 11% to 54%. During the course of the project, 22 SDOC school visits were completed including 2,203 students. Objective 1.7: Students register to participate in Project SALSA using the online form in our Atlas portal. Once that form is received, our program advisor contacts them to schedule a one-on-one advising session. During the advising sessions, students are connected to our learning support resources and activities based on their individual interests and needs. The online form also creates a communication list so regular communications may be sent to the Project SALSA participants throughout the year. Our project directly provided $12,200 in scholarshipsto students this year and $23,000 for the entire project. Our partnership with other programs brought several other external scholarships to Project SALSA participants over the course of the 4-year project. Project SALSA also provided 10,188 hours of math and science tutoring support across the four year program. Objective 1.8: Staff from UF CALS worked with Valencia staff to develop a fourth UF CALS transfer plan for Natural Resource Conservation for Valencia's catalog. The transfer plan was approved by Valencia's College-wide Curriculum Committee and included in Valencia's 2020-2021 College Catalog. This makes Natural Resource Conservation much more visible to Valencia students. In addition, the hybrid version of BSC1011C Biology 2 that was developed in Year 2 continued to be offered as an option for students in Year 4. In total, four transfer plans were developed in partnership with UF CALS including: Food Science, Plant Science, Environmental Management, and Natural Resource Conservation. Objective 1.9: We were able to send 11 students and three staff members to three different professional conferences. We sponsored fall term field trips for natural resource conservation and horticulture. We toured UF CALS facilities in beef production and food science. Most of our spring term field trips and student applications for summer research experiences were cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In total, the project was able to provide 22 students with conference attendance experiences and connect 20 students with full-time summer research opportunities.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audiences for the third year of this project remained the same as the target areas named in years one and two. First, we are interested in outreach to current Valencia students, particularly underrepresented minority (URM) students, who are undecided in their career or educational goals and open to learning about opportunities in USDA priority areas. Second, we are connecting with current Valencia students who have expressed an interest in pursuing an educational program that falls in a USDA priority area and aligns with a transfer program at our university partner. We now have a total of 124 students who have completed an enrollment form and actively participated in at least one of our project activities. Third, we are conducting outreach to students in our partner K-12 school district, The School District of Osceola County (SDOC), who may not yet be aware of the diversity of career opportunities available to them in USDA priority areas. We presented to over 800 SDOC students from at least five different schools. Changes/Problems:There are no new major changes or problems from Year 3 of the project. The main major change continues to be that UF has requested a hold on the creation of new fomal articulation agreements. Thus, we will continue to develop the less formal transfer plan for our pathway programs. In Year 3 we completed the transfer plan for plant science and this transfer plan joins the two prior plans developed in Year 1 and Year 2 that are available in the Valencia College Catalog. We have written commitment from UF CALS that any students who complete the requirements of the transfer plans will be admitted to these programs. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project PI and Co-PI met with SDOC teachers, staff, and counselors on multiple occasions throughout the academic year. On each of the trips to visit SDOC high schools and the middle school, information about UF CALS programs and opportunities was shared with faculty and staff along with the students. The PI and Co-PI presented Project SALSA information to approximately 60 SDOC counselors at the annual Counselor Day event. We partnered with the NSF LSAMP project at the college to promote participation in the professional development course "Supporting Underrepresented Students in STEM." There were 18 Valencia participants. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about all Project SALSA activities and outcomes is shared quarterly at each Advisory Committee Meeting. Project SALSA information has also been shared with targeted SDOC faculty and staff at the professional development meetings during the year. The Project SALSA advisor maintains a Canvasresource course with program information for all Project SALSA student participants. Canvas is Valencia College's learning management system platform. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are entering Year 4 of the project. There are no new activities to add to our programming in Year 4. Thus, we will continuing implementing the same strategies and activities in Year 4 as we did in Year 3.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1.1: Presentations were made at five School District of Osceola County (SDOC) schools to more than 800 total students. Student participants were surveyed and the percentage of students who reported an increased awareness of educational programs in the agricultural and life sciences exceeded 92% at each school. In addition, from 10%-26% of the respondents indicated that they were "very interested" the programs in the agricultural or life sciences. Objective 1.2: There were 34 different presentations and tabling events made available to current Valencia students to become more aware of educational and career opportunities in the agricultural and life sciences. The presentations included 29 visits to SLS1122 New Student Experience classes that included 824 students. In addition, we had five different campus tabling events, four of which included an advisor from the University of Florida's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (UF CALS). Objective 1.3: There were 79 successful Valencia College applicants to UF CALS during Year 3 of this project. Of those 79 applicants, 71 have started coursework at UF CALS. This amount is higher than in both Year 1 and Year 2 of the grant combined. The total number of successful applicants from Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 is 127. We have already met the grant objective of 100 successful applicants and we still have a year to go. Objective 1.5: The online application and database for current Valencia students to register for Project SALSA participation was completed in Year 1 and has served this purpose in Year 2 and Year 3. We have a total of 121 unduplicated students who have signed up to participate in Project SALSA since its beginning and 95 of them were actively involved at some point during Year 3. Thirty-seven of those students graduated during Year 3 and 53 will continue into Year 4. Objective 1.6: Presentations were developed and implemented at five SDOC schools including four high schools and one middle school, for a total of more than 800 SDOC students. Four of the five schools were Title 1 schools with substantial Hispanic enrollment. In all five schools the percentage of students who reported on the post-survey that they were more informed about UF CALS programs was92% or higher. The percentage of students who indicated they were very interested in these programs varied from 10% to 26%. Objective 1.7: Students register to participate in Porject SALSA using the online form. Once that form is received, our program advisor contacts them to schedule a one-on-one advising session. During the advising sessions, students are connected to our learning support resources and activities based on their individual interests and needs. The online form also creates a communication list so regular communications may be sent to the Project SALSA participants throughout the year. Our project directly provided $3,600 in the form of six $600 student scholarships. Our partnership with other programs brought several other scholarships to Project SALSA participants this year. Objective 1.8: Staff from UF CALS worked with Valencia staff to develop a third UF CALS transfer plan for Plant Science for Valencia's catalog. The transfer plan was approved by Valencia's College-wide Curriculum Committee and included in Valencia's 2019-2020 College Catalog. This makes Plant Science and the specializations within that program much more visible to Valencia students. In addition, the hybrid version of BSC1011C Biology 2 that was developed in Year 2 continued to be offered as an option for students in Year 3. Objective 1.9: We took three different trips to UF CALS facilities. Two of the trips were to the UF main campus in Gainesville while the third was to the Mid-Florida Research and Education Center (MREC) in Apopka. Students toured facilities, participated in hands-on experiences, and met with faculty and staff. We also visited a Nature Conservancy wilderness preserve to learn about their educational and research programs and help remove some invasive plant species. We partnered with a Marine Biology class to visit another Nature Conservancy preserve at Blowing Rocks beach. Three Project SALSA students were selected for full-time, paid summer research experiences in UF CALS labs. Four Project SALSA students participated in the ERN national conference. UF CALS faculty and staff serve on our Advisory Committee and the MREC educational advisor makes regular trips to Valencia Campuses to meet with students.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audiences for the second year of this project remained the same as the three target areasnamed inthe first year. First, we are interested in outreach to current Valencia students, particularly underrepresented minority (URM) students,who are undecided in their career or educational goals and open to learning about opportunities in USDA priority areas. We conductedseveral tabling events and visitedseventeen SLS1122 New Student Experience classes, which resulted in hundreds of students hearing about the opportunities we provide. We were able to add 41 additional students to our project participant list. Second, we are connecting with current Valencia students who have expressed an interested in pursuing an educational program that falls in a USDA priority area and aligns with a transfer program at one of our university partners. We now have a total of 87 students who have actively participated in at least one of our project activities.Third, we are conducting outreach to students in our partner K-12 school district, the School District of Osceola County (SDOC), who may not yet be aware of the diversity of career opportunities available to them in USDA priority areas and the educational pathways to reach them. We visited sixSDOC schools and presented to over 300 students in grades 5-12. Changes/Problems:UF CALS has requested a change in the timeline for completion of formal articulation agreements due toissues they are managing internal and external to their college. We worked with them to complete less formal transfer plans for Food Science and Environmental Management. Those plans have been approved by both UF CALS and Valencia and are available for students in the Valencia College Catalog. We have also received written commitment from UF CALS Dean Elaine Turner that any Valencia studentwho completes the requirements of the transfer plans will be admitted to these programs. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project PI and Co-PI met with SDOC teachers, staff,and counselors on multiple occasions throughout the academic year to provide information about the UF CALS programs and pathways that Valencia is sharing with students and staff. The PI and the academic advisor included SLS1122 faculty members in classroom presentations for students so the faculty members were also better informed about these opportunities. SLS1122 faculty members serve as advisors to students during their first semester so this is a group that has a high impact on early student career counseling. We have worked with our NSF LSAMP grant staff to re-developa professionaldevelopment course on supporting underrepresented minority students in STEM programs and that course will now be available to Valencia faculty and staff in the Fall 2018 term. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about all Project SALSA activities and outcomes is shared quarterly at each Advisory Committee Meeting. Project SALSA information has also been shared with targeted SDOC faculty and staff at their professional development meetings during the academic year. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1.1: We will continue to visit at least five SDOC schools to do presentations on UF CALS majors and pathways. We want to target specific types of classes, such as agricultural sciences, and have met with teachers during pre-planning activities to build those relationships. Objective 1.2: We will continue to host the tabling events on Valencia campuses and do in-class presentations targetting the SLS1122 New Student Experience course. We hope to exceed the total number of 17 class visits conducted in Year 2. Objective 1.3: We experienced an increased number of successful UF CALS applicants this year and believe our continued efforts will bring higher numbers in Year 3 of the project. Objective 1.5: The Project SALSA registration form will remain open throughout the next academic year to continue to sign up Project SALSA participants. Returning students do not have to complete the form again to participate. Objective 1.6: We will continue the SDOC presentations with a focus on Title I schools. Objective 1.7: Our tutoring and advising services will continue to be available to Project SALSA students from the first day of the academic year through the last. We will begin communicating services and activities to our active students immediately at the start of the academic year and add new students who complete the application throughout the year. Objective 1.8: We have the collaboration team in place to work on the next UF CALS transfer plan that we will add to the college catalog: Plant Science. Objective 1.9:We continue to look for partnership opportunities for enrichment activities for studentssuch asspeakers, field trips, internships, andresearch. The calendar ofactivities for the next academic year is already in development.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1.1: Presentations were made atsix SDOC schools to more than 300 students. Student participants were surveyed and the percentage of students who reported an increased awareness of educational programs in the agricultural and life sciences exceeded 90% at each school. Students from Osceola High School who participated in the one-day camp reported a 12.6% increase in interest in UF CALS programs. Objective 1.2: There were 22 different presentations and tabling events made available for current Valencia students to become more aware of educational and career opportunities in agriculural and life sciences. The presentations include 17 visits to SLS1122 New Student Experience classes and our College Partnership Day event. Tabling was present at our fall and spring open house activities and two different student networking events. Many of these activities did not provide the environment for pre/post survey delivery. In those that did, almost 100% reported an increased awareness in programs at UF CALS. Objective 1.3: There were 31 successful applicants admitted to UF CALS during Year 2 of this project. Of those 31 applicants, 22 have started coursework at UF CALS. The total number of successful applicants from Year 1 and Year 2 of the project is 48. Objective 1.5: The online application and database for current Valencia students to register for Project SALSA advising and activities was completed in Year 1 and has served this purpose through Year 2. We have a total of 87 students who have signed up in the first two years of the project with 68 currently active. Objective 1.6: Presentations were developed and implemented at six SDOC schools including four high schools, one middle school, and one elementary school for a total of more than 300 students. Five of the six schools were Title 1 schools with substantial Hispanic enrollment. Objective 1.7: Once Valencia students registered for Project SALSA using the online form, our dedicated advisor contacted them to schedule a one-on-one advising session. During the advising session, students were connected to our learning support resources and activities based on their individual interests and needs. The online form also creates a communication list so regular communications were sent to the Project SALSA students throughout the academic year to keep the studentsengaged in project activities and opportunities. Our project directly provides $3,600 in the form of six student scholarships but our partnership work brought 25 additional student scholarships to our project participants this year. Objective 1.8: The UF CALS Dean and her staff worked with Valencia staff to add a second UF CALS transfer plan for Environmental Management to Valencia's catalog. The transfer plan was approved by Valencia's College-wide Curriculum Committee and included in Valencia's 2018-2019 College Catalog. This makes Environmental Management much more visible to Valencia's student population. In addition, one of Valencia's biology faculty members worked with a UF CALS faculty member to create a hybrid version of BSC1011C Biology 2 that emulates some of the characteristics of UF CALS distance learning programs. The Valencia faculty member also aligned UF CALS programs with the learning outcomes of BSC1011C to draw attention to students and other biology faculty members to the educational programs that align withcourse topics and these materials are available to other BSC1011C faculty. Objective 1.9: We took four different studenttrips to UF CALS facilities. Two of the trips were to UF CALS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center (MREC) and two trips were to the UF main campus in Gainesville, Florida. In each case, students toured facilities, participated in hands-on experiences, and met with faculty. Five Valencia Project SALSA students were selected for full-time, paid summer research experiences and four of them were assigned to UF CALS labs. Four Project SALSA students participated in national conferences.UF CALS faculty and staff serve on our Advisory Committee.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:There are three target audiences that our project reached during this reporting period. Our first target audience included current Valencia students, particularly underrepresented minority (URM) students,who already had an interest in following an educational and career goal related to obtaining a bachelors degree or higher ina USDA priority area and who would benefit from dedicated advising, learning support, or experiential learning. In the first year of our project, wesigned up46 "Project SALSA" students as intending to pursue degrees in the Valencia-University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (UF CALS) pathway. Our second target audience included current Valencia students, particularlyURM students,who are either undecided in their career or educational goals or open to a new goal. We provided multiple tabling events, speakers, and presentations to expose many morestudents to the educational opportunities and pathways we are creating with UF CALS. Our project outreachactivities provided information to hundreds of Valencia students and resulted in the aforementioned 46 students formally becoming Project SALSA students. The third target audience included students in our partner K-12 School District, the School District of Osceola County (SDOC), who may not yet be aware of the diversity of career opportunities available to them in USDA priority areas. We made presentationsat five public schools including two high schools, two middle schools, and one elementary school for a total of 513 SDOC students. Changes/Problems:UF CALS requested a change in the timeline for completion of a formal articulation agreement for the Food Science major. They have been approached by multiple two-year colleges requesting articulation agreements and requested time to investigate creation of a statewide articulation agreement. We continued to work with them on a less formal transfer plan for Food Science majors and the plan was approved by both UF CALS and Valencia in June 2017 and is available for Valencia students to follow as planned in the 2017-2018 Valencia College Catalog. We have also received a written commitment from UF CALS Dean Elaine Turner that any Valencia student who completes the requirements of the transfer plan will be admitted to the UF CALS Food Science program. We believe the transfer plan and UF CALS' commitment to accept all students who complete the requirements provides the pathway andaccess intended in the goals of this project. A second change was an adjustmentto the personnelbudget to cover cost of meta-analysis that was not included in the original budget proposal but required for all grantees. No participant support funds were impacted and the scope of the project was not changed. Thirdly, we have faced a challenge in filling the role of External Evaluator for our project. We did not receive any responses to our request for quotes to the initial postingmade by our Procurement Office. We revised the posting to clarify and streamline the requirements for the External Evaluator and made another attempt to post the position through our procurement process. The second attemptdid not receive any responses. Thus, we have beenunable to fill the role of External Evaluator for this project despite repeated attempts. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project PI and Co-PImet with SDOC teachers and counselors on multiple occasions throughout the academic year to provide information about the UF CALS programs and pathways that Valencia is sharing with students and staff. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about all Project SALSA activities and outcomes is shared quarterly at eachAdvisory Committee Meeting. Project SALSA information has alsobeen shared at an Osceola County Agricultural Legislative Update meeting and a local Rotary Clubmeeting. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1.1: Continue to visit at least five SDOC schools to conduct presentations with efforts made to expand the number of school visits and target specific types of classes, such as Environmental Science or Agricultural Education classes. Objective 1.2: We will continue to host the tabling events that are very popular on campus but we will addin-class presentations to Valencia students in their front-door general education classes to showcase the career opportunities in Agricultural and Life Sciences to First Time in College (FTIC) students. This format will alsoprovide better opportunities to sign up students and gather pre-post data about increased awareness. Objective 1.3: We will have the full academic year to work with Project SALSA students this year so we anticipate increased numbers of successful applicants to UF CALS throughout the next academic year. Objective 1.5: The Project SALSAform will remain open throughout the next academic year to continue to sign up Project SALSA participants. We have already seen student interest going into the next year.Returning students will not have to complete the form a second time and will remain part of our Project SALSA participants until graduation and transfer are complete. Objective 1.6: Now that we have contacts at several SDOC schools, we will continue the SDOC presentations and add at least one additional Title I school. Objective 1.7: We are in a better position to offer all of our resources and support services to our Project SALSA students in Year 2 of our project because everything will be in place from the very start of the academic year. Our tutoring and advising services will be available for all of our Project SALSA participants from the first day. We already have our list of returning Project SALSA students and the application is already open for new students to join the project. We will have the ability to begin communicating about activities, resources, and opportunities as soon as they become available. Objective 1.8: We have the collaboration team in place to begin working on our next Valencia-UF CALS transfer plan and we have already identified the faculty partnership to further develop our BSC1011C course enhancements. Objective 1.9: Our network of partners continues to grow. We have UF CALS activities already on the schedule and are expanding to field trips to UFIFAS facilities.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1.1: Presentations were made at five SDOC schools to more than 500 total students. Participants were surveyed and the percentage of respondents who reported an increased awareness of agricultural and life sciences educational and career opportunities varied between 84% to 97% per school. Objective 1.2: At least 15 separate activities were made available for current Valencia students to become more aware of educational and career opportunities in Agricultural and Life Sciences. These activities included: twotabling events in the Valencia Career Center, multiple classroom visits from both Valencia and UF CALS staff, two field trips to UF CALS facilities, UF CALS participation inbothgeneral education and STEM-focused transfer fairs,tabling at a Valencia Open House to promote the UF CALS partnership, and integration of a food science related activity in targeted Biology 2 classes.Many of these activities were tabling events that did not provide the environment for pre/post survey delivery. In those that did, 100% of the participants expressed an increase in awareness of the Food Science and Plant Science programs at UF CALS. Objective 1.3: At the time of this report, application and transfer data for UF CALS was not available for the Summer 2017 term. Thus, we are only able to report data for Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 terms. There were 17 successful applicants from Valencia to UF CALS in these two terms. Objective 1.5: An online application for current Valencia students to register for Project SALSA advising and activities is now open. Forty-six students signed up in the first year of the project. Once students sign up as Project SALSA students through the online application, they are connected with our resources and opportunities throughout the year. Objective 1.6: Presentations were developed and implemented at five SDOC schools including two high schools, two middle schools, and one elementary school. Four of the five schools are Title 1 schools with substaintial Hispanic enrollment. Objective 1.7: Once students registered for Project SALSA using the new online registration system, they are contacted by our dedicated program advisor for an advising session. During the advising session, students are connected to our learning support resources and activities based upon their individual interests and needs. Regular communications are sent to Project SALSA students throughout the academic year to keep them updated on new activities and opportunities. Objective 1.8: The UF CALS Dean and her staff worked with Valencia's curriculum administrators to develop a transfer plan for Food Science that was approved through Valencia'sCollege-wide Curriculum Committee and included in Valencia's 2017-2018College Catalog. Thismakes Food Science much more visible to Valencia's student population and five students have already selected this transfer plan as their degree plan. AFood Science activity was added to our BSC1011C course to raise awareness of Food Science as a career opportunity. A UF CALS faculty member has been designated to work with aValencia faculty member to further enhance our BSC1011C course including providing a hybrid version of BSC1011C that will emulate some of the characteristics of the UF CALS distance learningcourses. We hope this gives Valencia students more learning experiences to prepare them for the UF CALS learning environment. Objective 1.9: Our relationship withUF CALS faculty allowed Valencia to secure placement for nine Project SALSA students in UF CALS paid, full-time summer research experiences. Another Project SALSA student was accepted to a full-time summer research experience at Harvard University. Twenty-three Valencia students participated in UF CALS field trips and all 46 participated in either a guest speakeractivity or a UF CALSAmbassador meeting.
Publications
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