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Reaching out to youth
Underrepresented middle school students come to campus for free summer camps
FEATURE STORY - Spring 2007, Outreach-Reaching Out
Native American and other underrepresented public and private middle school students will benefit directly from a new partnership formed between Precollegiate Programs at University of Oklahoma Outreach, the Bernard Harris Foundation and the ExxonMobil Foundation. The latter two organizations joined to donate the nearly $80,000 to fund the Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp, which is administered by Precollegiate Programs.
The “Earth Cycles” academic camp will provide students the opportunity to study the geosciences through a core curriculum based on science, technology, engineering and math education.
The camp program was “developed as a collaborative effort of the Harris Foundation, the Houston Independent School District, the University of Houston and Southwestern Oklahoma State University, designed to support economically and/or socially disadvantaged students with limited opportunities,” according to the Harris Foundation Web site. To increase the impact of the program, the Harris Foundation partnered with the ExxonMobil Foundation to fund programs on 20 campuses nationally this summer.
OU’s program, “Earth Cycles: A Whole- Earth Approach to the Geosciences” took place June 10-22 specifically for Native American and underrepresented students grades 6-8. The camp was provided at no cost to the students.
“The objective of ‘Earth Cycles’ is to get underrepresented middle school students to finish high school and attend college,” said Amy Logan, program specialist for Precollegiate Programs and co-writer of the grant proposal. “We selected Native American students in particular for our grant because so many of them drop out of high school, much less attempt college.”
Logan came up with the idea of a geology camp and contacted Michael Soreghan, Ph.D., who also co-wrote the grant proposal. “We had worked together in the past on other programs and I felt a geology camp was something that could be offered to middle school students,” Logan said.
The “Earth Cycles” academic camp provided students the opportunity to study the geosciences through a core curriculum based on science, technology, engineering and math education. Students participated in class discussions, performed lab research and computer work, listened to motivational speakers and went on field trips, all of which will contribute to their learning about the connection between the science concepts of the origin of rocks and minerals and the Native American “Sacred Circle.”
OU faculty and outstanding secondary teachers served as instructors for the camp, and students lived in a residence hall on the OU campus.
For more information on Precollegiate Programs visit http://youth.ou.edu.
Native American and other underrepresented public and private middle school students will benefit directly from a new partnership formed between Precollegiate Programs at University of Oklahoma Outreach, the Bernard Harris Foundation and the ExxonMobil Foundation. The latter two organizations joined to donate the nearly $80,000 to fund the Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp, which is administered by Precollegiate Programs.
The “Earth Cycles” academic camp will provide students the opportunity to study the geosciences through a core curriculum based on science, technology, engineering and math education. The camp program was “developed as a collaborative effort of the Harris Foundation, the Houston Independent School District, the University of Houston and Southwestern Oklahoma State University, designed to support economically and/or socially disadvantaged students with limited opportunities,” according to the Harris Foundation Web site. To increase the impact of the program, the Harris Foundation partnered with the ExxonMobil Foundation to fund programs on 20 campuses nationally this summer.
OU’s program, “Earth Cycles: A Whole- Earth Approach to the Geosciences” took place June 10-22 specifically for Native American and underrepresented students grades 6-8. The camp was provided at no cost to the students.
“The objective of ‘Earth Cycles’ is to get underrepresented middle school students to finish high school and attend college,” said Amy Logan, program specialist for Precollegiate Programs and co-writer of the grant proposal. “We selected Native American students in particular for our grant because so many of them drop out of high school, much less attempt college.”
Logan came up with the idea of a geology camp and contacted Michael Soreghan, Ph.D., who also co-wrote the grant proposal. “We had worked together in the past on other programs and I felt a geology camp was something that could be offered to middle school students,” Logan said.
The “Earth Cycles” academic camp provided students the opportunity to study the geosciences through a core curriculum based on science, technology, engineering and math education. Students participated in class discussions, performed lab research and computer work, listened to motivational speakers and went on field trips, all of which will contribute to their learning about the connection between the science concepts of the origin of rocks and minerals and the Native American “Sacred Circle.”
OU faculty and outstanding secondary teachers served as instructors for the camp, and students lived in a residence hall on the OU campus.
- Lauren Park
For more information on Precollegiate Programs visit http://youth.ou.edu.