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USDA ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROGRAM
The main goal of this grant application is to increase the transfer of minority community college students from South-Central regions of Virginia and recruitment of high school students into Virginia State University’s agricultural sciences programs by offering an intensive six-weeks course, "Introduction to Environmental Science (AGRI-150). In addition, the students have hands-on research experiences in agricultural sciences in VSU’s Agricultural Research Station laboratories. To complement these activities, high school science teachers will be selected for the continuing education. To prepare a pipeline of qualified minority youth in the field of agricultural and food systems, and environmental management at USDA Agency, the proposal will develop courses which will lead to the offering of Concentration in Environmental Science (ES), through its Department of Agriculture and Human Ecology. The students and teachers will be provided opportunities to work as student-teacher teams to understand the applications of the environmental science education. All the participants will be exposed to field-related activities through field trips to USDA-ARS Laboratories and Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences for awareness of career opportunities to qualified minority youth. The school teachers will be provided opportunities to discuss the current Standards of Learning through special session with curricula experts. The project will strengthens VSU’s partnerships with the community colleges (through student transfer) and high schools in South-Central Virginia (through recruitment into VSU’s ES course). The ongoing collaborative efforts on integration of Geographic Information System education in sciences, will be further increased with the USDA-ARS Collaborators, USDA-ARS Laboratory on Remote Sensing and GIS Data Analyst, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and US Geological Survey staff, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Benefits of the program are various. One of the immediate benefits of the program is the opportunity to take a class at Virginia State University, dealing with a health care field. Another benefit is that of a stipend to take care of other expenses. Other expenses such as books, travel will also be paid for. Another long term benefit to this program is that of networking. The BRIDGES program will sponsor travel to speakers of various health related fields. Also students will have an opportunity to take part in conferences and presentations themselves. |
