Becky Westbrooks and I at Kenan Fellows Orientation
My fellowship has a very interesting story behind it. I will explain my externship then explain why this summer will be extremely interesting and rewarding.
My externship project is titled “Using STEM to Make it Grow”. My mentors are Becky Westbrooks and Teresa Legner at Southeastern Community College which is outside Whiteville, North Carolina. The primary project is introducing biotechnology into the classroom. Southeastern Community College was the first community college in the nation with an agriculture biotechnology two year program. The have been pioneers in the push to introduce biotechnology into the community college system. There are now 4 community colleges in NC that offer biotech degrees. This is a great initiative since North Carolina ranks 2nd in the U.S. in biotechnology, which encompasses agriculture, forestry, nutraceuticals, and plants.
This is the interesting part of my Kenan Fellow journey. When I began applying for Kenan Fellows, this fellowship really stuck out to me, especially when I saw Becky Westbrooks name on the mentor list. Beginning in the 3rd grade, I attended summer science enrichment camps at SCC every summer till the 7th or 8th grade. These camps were the brain child of Becky. She had written a grant through Burroughs Welcome Fund to fund the camps. These camps sparked my love for science. We did everything from digging in fossil pits to observing sea turtles and even took a trip to Washington, D.C. Through these camps I found my love for science and I always knew I wanted to be in a scientific field. So needless to say, I was super giddy when I was asked to come for an interview.
As I stated earlier, the primary focus of the externship is bringing biotechnology into the classroom. SCC has a micropropagation lab where they take plant material and produces hundreds of copies of the plant. They do everything from miniature roses and carrots to corn and venus fly traps. Yes, I said venus fly traps. This is was the college is best known for. Columbus County is one of the unique and limited locations that the venus fly trap calls home. SCC has been very successful with the growing of this species and is working with other agencies to help combat the poaching issues of the area. Believe it or not, poaching and harvesting from humans is the traps biggest predator. I will be looking at the DNA sequence of the population that the college has and comparing it along with collected samples to the sequence that the Nature Conservatory has on file. This will be my main project. I will also be introducing the art of micropropagation to my students this coming year on a much smaller scale that is doable in the classroom.
SCC has many other projects going on in the science department that coincide with my work at the high school. This past year our school decided that our STEM project would focus on pollinates and their importance to agriculture. We have established a bee yard on campus starting with two hives. We hope to increase the number of hives in the coming years to conduct research. Southeastern has had a beekeeping program on campus for the past 4 years. They have been helping us gain hands on experience with the hives. Becky, Tersea, and myself are looking are the high school curriculum to rlate the bees into each subject area for my school.
All of these projects will be keeping me busy. I’m so excited to learn more about micropropagation and the bees. I know my students will be intrigued with these new concepts and will be willing to accept the challenge. Needless to say there will never be a dull moment this summer.