Thanks, Sarah! Yes! Please engage with us! Our project team is ready to answer your questions!

Hello Vivian,

We are very excited about the progress and potential of our project. To address your second question first, we have some preliminary data about prior participants in the Youth Ocean Explorers (YOE) program enrolling in the university. However, we don't know if the YOE program influenced them to enroll or if they were already planning on enrolling. That's part of the information we are hoping to gain through this project. We ulitmately want to track students from first contact with us through time as long as possible and investigate their science identity and its changes along the way. In an effort to provide support/mentoring to the YOE participants we will have the Bridge Program participants, after having completed their summer, share their experiences with the YOE students. We also have prior YOE participants acting as mentors during this year's YOE program. I am really looking forward to seeing how supporting efforts like mentoring and invovling families, impacts student identity. 

Thanks Carrie Jo! Vivian, we are also building other opportunities for students to interact across the SEAS Program. Not only will Bridge students share their experiences with YOEs, but we've also asked these students to share their experiences with our undergraduates - the interns, SCI 100 students, and/or our junior and senior students through their academic year seminars. We are also trying to think of ways to have our undergraduate interns interact with the YOEs; this has been a little more complicated because 3 out of 4 interns are based on St. Croix this year and the YOE program is based on St. Thomas. We are currently exploring virtual ways for them to interact. We believe the power of near peers to mentor each other and share their stories and experiences, is critically important in helping to build science identity.

Hi Breanne! The project started in December 2016, so we haven't had the chance yet to follow students. However, the Youth Ocean Explorer program has been running for longer. A former Youth Ocean Explorer is now at UVI majoring in marine biology and has accepted one of our undergraduate internships that will partner her with NOAA through the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program. Over the long-term, we would like to track our students to see if participation in SEAS encourages them to stay in STEM.

Hello Nancy,

I can help address your questions about participant numbers. Currently we aim to have 3-5 Bridge Program students each summer, 6-10 total (we have 3 this year), 3-5 Undergrad Interns each summer, 6-10 total (we have 4 this year), approximately 20 Youth Ocean Explorers participants each summer, ~40 total (beginning July, 2017), and approximately 200 Science 100 course students (1st & 2nd year college) for three semesters. 

-Carrie Jo