Progress 06/01/23 to 05/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:Undergraduates at St. Edward's University, an HSI and MSI, were the target audience. There are two target audiences at SEU for this project.One focus is on students who are majoring in biology at SEU who have limited FANH career exposure. The other includes students interested in FANH fields of study who are or plan to pursue majors in biology.Additionally, we focused on students who are in biology classes but may not have thought of FANH careers includingstudents in the following classes: freshman biology lab, microbiology lab, urban ecology, biostatistics, FANH Leadership. Students majoring in biology professions or environmental biology and climate change (EBCC) are recruited for scholarships where merit, interest, need, and belonging to an underserved community were used to evaluate them.Those majoring in biology professions or EBCC or minoring in a biological subject are recruited for internships and completea leadership course in preparation for this internship. These students are chosen based on merit, interest, and belonging to an underserved community. Students attending the biology seminars featuring a FANH speaker are also targeted. Changes/Problems:We had planned to have 7 scholars and 20 interns the first year. This has been adjusted to 4scholars and 6interns the first year. This is due to the June project start date rather than March. This is not a major change that requires special reporting. For year 2 there is a challenge with FAFSA. Private universities require FAFSA in order to make financial aid offers to students. The cost of attendance is higher at private universiities and without an offer, students do not know what their cost of attendance will be. With the current problems in the FAFSA process, the student offers are taking much longer to process. We expect overall enrollment at many universities to decrease as a result of the FAFSA problem. If there are fewer scholars this fall we can make up for this in future years as the process smooths. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Five faculty attended a culturally responsive teaching seminar in May 2023 in order to prep for constructing the culturally responsive courses that areinfused with food, agriculture and natural resources data and scientists. They updated or created classes and taught them in AY 2023-24. In May 2024, a follow-up seminar was offered. Every faculty member had information of how their course was received and felt they could do better (each class isunder "other" in the next section). Although there were only 2 seminars planned, all faculty committed to repeating this annually in order to continue to iterate. Our administrative coordinator, Ariana Gonzalez, took a graphic design night course at UT which has helped her with webpage and document design. She also took the international student section ofEnglish Writing and Rhetoric at SEU which helps her with communication. She is originally from Venezuela and is confident with speaking but has benefitted from the class. She is outstanding and wewant to retain her on our project, so her training is very valuable. She has indicated that both experiences were extremely important for her and she is much more confident in her skills. Six students took the FANH Leadership course which provided leadership training, mentoring by FANH alums, and networking withprofessionals in the field with USFS and ARS and others. They also learned to make a federal resume, developed an application portfolio and interviewed for internships. Every student found the construction of a federal resume informative and this will remove barriers to federal work once they graduate. Meeting real professionals who were approachable and supportive helped the students grow their network and broaden their horizons. One student summed it up, "Yeah. I would say the most useful resource we've been provided so far is from the mentors, various mentors, has been this information on, like, their sections inside the USDA. Otherwise, the USDA was just kind of this monolith to me before...." One student attended the NextGen activities along with the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum and grew her network and perspective and shared her resulting information and enthusiasm with the other students in the class. She indicated that she now realizes how important this project and is even more determined to focus on a FANH career. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have developed the NextGen E3 website to inform our audience of the career possibilities with USDA, internship and scholarship opportunities and our activities(https://sites.stedwards.edu/e3/). It contains examples of professionals who are alums and their career path. They look like our students and inspire to pursue FANH careers. Our student newspaper interviewed relevant people and published a wonderful article (https://www.hilltopviewsonline.com/27086/featured-stories/federal-funding-finances-new-nextgen-experiential-learning-program/ ). This reachedall students on campus as well as having an online presence. The NextGen E3 scholar quoted was a transfer student and said he now feels that he is an important part of campus. Our team has participated in 5 recruitment events with prospective students to increase awareness of FANH careers and our program opportunities. We spoke with students and parents and explain the value of a these careers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Timeline of activities (activities not in the timeline are ongoing throughout the year) Summer 2024: Students participate in internships of 8-10 weeks (6 students total) with ARS (3)and USFS (3) Recruit additional students for scholarships (24) Teaching seminar for faculty, iterate Fall 2024: Students assimilate their 2024 internship experience and present on and off campus Microbiology lab (core class) Recruit students for su25 internships and sp25 Leadership class Spring 2025: FANH Leadership class and core classes taught (microbiology lab, biostatistics, freshman biology lab) Freshman Biology lab has an abroad component over spring break (scholars can apply to the E3 fund to help support this). A subset of the internship students take Advanced FANH Leadership, mentoring new interns and HS students. May-Advisory Board meets for an update and to offer advice. More detail on the activities: 1. Recruit additional applications and award 28 (4-year) Educational Assistance Awards (EAAs) to FANH majors. We currently have 4 of these students awarded during year 1. 2. Continue to enrich the NextGen E3 website including additionalrole models. 3. Continue to iterate and teach the 4 core classes enhanced withculturally responsive FANH curriculafeaturing diverse role models. 4. Further promote theMANRRS chapter to raise the profile of FANH careers, give opportunities for leadership,networking, and honing presentation skills. Students can share their internship data throughregional and national MANRRS Conferences each year. 5. Continue to support the E3 Office that includes support for student development and unexpected situations via the E3 fund (Enrichment, Emergency and Equity). 6. Continue to monitor students via surveys and faculty check-in to determine any unmet need (assistance with class, encouragement to seek leadership roles, etc.) 7.Provide 6robust, paid, summer experiential learning experiences in FANH fields at ARS and USFS in year 2. There will bemore in future years. 8. Continue to iterate and teach theelective FANH Leadership classto impart crucial knowledge, skills, and leadership training, internship preparation, and career navigation and also to bond more closely with our partners who will visit the class. 9. Teach the Advanced FANH Leadership class with a subset of year one internship students who can help to mentor the new students and promote FANH careers to high school students. 10. Desseminate the work via meetings on and off campus including at the MANRRS conference.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. Scholarships to attract and retain students.The cost of college attendance is a barrier to attracting strong FANH students who may also suffer from financial stress.We recruited and awarded 2 one-year $15k scholarships and 2, ½ year $7500 scholarships for FANH biology students.All scholars feel less financial stress and indicate that they could not have attended college full time without this support and are confident they will graduate with their FANH degree.These students have beenattracted and retained and will contribute to a strong and resilient federal workforce which is an administrative priority. All of the scholars indicated that they could not have attended the university full time without this funding. 2. NextGen E3 website.Students at St. Edward's get a lot of information regarding healthcare. They need to understand FANH options in order to help foster a strong federal workforce.The NextGen E3 website was developed to show examples of federal internships and job satisfaction as well as scholarship and internship applications.We have used our NextGenE3 website to help us recruit 6 students for internships and 4 students for scholarships.Students and their parents will benefit from understanding the federal workforce and opportunities for support. This puts them on track for a successful federal career. Student participantvideos and quotes will be featured on the website as they are collected. (Please see: https://sites.stedwards.edu/e3/) 3. FANH infused core courses in biology.A strong, federal workforce is crucial, but students at St. Edward's lack exposure to these fields.We updated four core classes with a FANH focus: freshman biology lab, microbiology lab, urban ecology, and biostatistics.The majority of students responding to a detailedsurvey (n=177) indicate this experience increased their awareness of FANH careers, careers in the USDA, and their confidence to succeed in future courses.These students will be open to opportunities with the USDA and contribute to a resilient workforce. A more specific consideration of each class is in the "othter products". 4. Starting a MANRRS chapter.At St. Edward's there is a need to support students as they develop their FANH identity. There is a lack of clubs to help students grow their network.NextGen E3 scholars founded a MANRRS Chapter at St. Edward's.Students now have a place to interact with otherswith like interests and a national network to support their development. There are currently 6 members in the inaugural year.The MANRRS club is giving students leadership experience. They will network nationally and hone their presentation skills. This will help them attain fulfilling federal employment. This club founding will allow us to attend the MANRRS meeting after students have completed their internships. 5. NextGen E3Support Committee and NextGen E3 Fund.Students sometimes have challenges that can allow their grades and to slip and they do may not seek support on their own.We established the "E3 Support Committee" that monitors scholars and makes suggestions for their success.One scholar had poor grades at midterm in spring. Through the "E3 Support Committee", we had the opportunity to seek timely advice and support from professors and encourage her to succeed.Monitoring students helps to support their success so they can graduate and attain federal employment. They learn problem solving skills and are more open to seeking assistance. Studentsgained funds from the Emergency, Enrichment, and Equity (E3) fund which is also monitored by the Support Committee. Students sometimes have unexpected expenses that can get in the way of their focus on school, cause stress, and/or hamper their success..Several students have used the fund to purchase essentail equipmentfor their internship, fund background checks for upcoming internship, decreasing stress.Students indicated that they could not have afforded the boots on their own and would have worn clothing unsuitable for the terrain. This gave them more confidence to pursue opportunities they may have shied away from. 6. NextGen E3 Office.The NextGen E3 Office is maintained by our administrative coordinator, Ariana Gonzalez. She is present to answer questions and support students as well as representing the project in a number of ways on campus to other stakeholders. She developed the website and recruiting materials, our NextGen E3 logo,and she communicates with our scholars and interns. She will arrangehousing and transportation for the internships off campus and is an invaluable asset. 7. FANH Leadership class. Students do not have ample opportunity to interact with role models and prepare for their future FANH careers.We developed a FANH Leadership class, featuring FANH alums, USDA professionals, and other FANH professionals, with leadership training.All 6 students in the class indicated they gained confidence in keeping a group running smoothly, interviewing for internships, and diversifying their network. One disabled student gained confidence during the course to identify as disabled.These students are now prepared to undertake internships with the USDA and will continue to grow their networks. This will lead to fulfilling work in the federal sector. We took a field trip to the ARS in College STation as well as our partners at TAMU. One student summarized the experience "I really valued how they prepared us for interviews and the amount of detail we went into when talking with people in the field. I feel that the field trip we took was something which really was meaningful to me, as it allowed us to see the environment we might be working in and the kinds of people we might be working with. It was kind of like seeing into the future. I really liked that we also made so many connections that we could reach out to in case we needed help with anything or had any questions about the internship or the place in which we might work. Having mentors to talk to and guide us through the process of applying for internships and preparing for interviews was really helpful." When asked what they values most about the Leadership class one student summed it up"The opportunity to speak with people inside the USDA and hear from previous interns." Exposure to outstanding professionals had an impact. All 6 students have a federal resume, an orientation to USAjobs.gov and they all chose USDA summer internships. This is exactly what we had hoped would happen. The first year of the course was challenging, but now we cancontinue to work with our ARS and USFS contacts to improve the class.
Publications
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