Hypothesis: EnvironMentors + Upward Bound = More Diverse Environmental Professionals

Dominique Mack, center, explains his research on urban heat islands to judges at the EnvironMentors Fair, Wednesday, April 15, in Hardin Hall. He worked with Melissa Widhalm from the School of Natural Resources and the National Drought Mitigation Center.

Nguyen Nguyen worked with mentor Dave Gosselin to compare characteristics of water in concrete-lined channels with water in natural channels.

Maddie McAlister and her mentor, Mary Bomberger Brown, shown here at the Capital Humane Society, were particularly interested in the prevalence of black, male dogs needing adoption.

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Maddie McAlister, a 10th-grader at Lincoln High School, is by all accounts, including her own, now much more confident about talking to professionals, especially to explore how to put her love of dogs to good use.

“I can talk to different people now who are in more professional roles and not be totally nervous,” she said. “I’m finding people who are interested in the same things I am,” such as Lincoln Animal Ambassadors, which is committed to alleviating cruelty to animals.

Maddie was part of a pilot group that combined the long-standing Upward Bound program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) with EnvironMentors. Both programs serve first-generation college students. Maddie and two other students will travel to Washington, D.C., for the national EnvironMentors fair on May 20.

In addition to completing the Upward Bound summer program, Maddie worked through the school year with a mentor, Mary Bomberger Brown, from UNL’s School of Natural Resources, on an environment-related research project.

Maddie did a statistical analysis of animal shelter records from Lincoln, Beatrice and York that revealed that large, dark, male dogs take longer to be adopted than others -- a pattern that dog advocates across the country have noticed and publicized via websites such as blackpearldogs.com.

Dave Gosselin, an earth scientist at UNL’s School of Natural Resources who has forged connections with K-12 educators, is leading the effort to incorporate EnvironMentors into UNL’s offerings for high school students who need extra help attaining an environmental career.

“It’s a natural fit,” Gosselin said. “Upward Bound has the infrastructure to recruit students, but needed a way to provide them with a research experience. EnvironMentors provides that.”

UNL has offered the federally funded Upward Bound program since 1999, and first offered a summer session in 2000, said Joan Mendoza-Gorham, Upward Bound project director. In summer 2008, 13 of Upward Bound’s 100 students were selected, based on their interests, to participate in the EnvironMentors program. For a few hours each afternoon for five weeks, they focused on environmental issues, and took field trips to destinations such as the university-run Nine-Mile Prairie.

“They had a very good experience last summer,” she said.

“We’re serving first-generation students who come from backgrounds where parents don’t have the experience, education, or opportunities to help their children make decisions about education and careers,” Mendoza-Gorham said. “That’s what mentors are all about. They will help them better understand the steps to get there.” Upward Bound is a TRIO program administered by the U.S. Department of Education and established in the 1960s.

Will Smith, a Lincoln Southeast High School science teacher, is coordinating the EnvironMentors program. He noted that the students had been exposed to scientific findings, but not to the actual research process. Mentors worked with students for an hour or two a week during the 2008-09 school year to help students design and complete their research projects.

EnvironMentors is an initiative of the National Council for Science and the Environment, established in Washington, D.C., in 1992 as a pathway to college for under-represented youth. According to its website, EnvironMentors’ flagship program in the nation’s capital has boosted high school graduation rates for participants to 98 percent, compared with an average D.C. rate of 43 percent, and 95 percent of the students have gone on to college, compared with the D.C. college acceptance rate of 12 percent.

Environmental scientists are still often disproportionately white and male, Gosselin said, and both Upward Bound and EnvironMentors are working to diversify the future workforce.

“All the environmental issues are not Anglo-Saxon, white male sort of issues,” Gosselin said. “If you have a problem on a Native American reservation and if you have someone that’s part of that community, that’s the most efficient way of dealing with it. You’re taking advantage of the cultural diversity to solve problems that are multi-cultural, as well as multi-disciplinary in nature.”

Another student in the pilot program, Nguyen Nguyen, a senior, measured characteristics of water in natural channels and water in concrete-lined channels and found differences in the alkalinity, or the concentration of carbon dioxide.

“I have a better understanding of water chemistry and its importance to aquatic life,” Nguyen said. He is thinking of studying chemistry at UNL next year.

Mentor recruitment is already underway for next year. If you’re interested in mentoring or would like to learn more, please contact Dave Gosselin, dgosselin2@unl.edu.