Expanding Title I School Access to DoN Careers: A Scalable Project Engaging Underserved High School Students and Their Guidance Counselors/Career Counselors
Abstract
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACTApproved for Public ReleaseNetworking with professionals, gaining hands-on skills, increasing opportunitiesfor advancement, defining career goals, and gaining self-confidence # all are documented benefits of high school internships. Thereare over twenty-five Navy Laboratories across the United States who offer high school internships as part of the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP) giving students hands-on, mentored research experiences. However, many underserved high school students are either not aware of these opportunities or struggle with the application process. With this proposal, TIES aims to increase the awareness of DoN Civilian STEM careers among Guidance/Career Counselors, STEM educators, students, and families and to booststudent confidence and competence in preparing and submitting competitive applications for the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP). This will be accomplished through two focused programs:a one-week Naval STEM Internship Bootcamp for twenty underserved high school students and a four-day Naval STEM Career-Connections Workshop for a School Support Team (SST) comprised of twenty School Guidance/Career Counselors and STEM educators from targeted schools. The Naval STEM Internship Bootcamp embeds lessons-learned from STEM It! Internship Training program created by TIES to support STEM students as they apply for DoD and DoD-related internships and scholarships. During the Bootcamp the STEM It! components of support and coaching are coupled with opportunities to learn first-hand about naval research from lab STEM professionals, hear about the experiences of current SEAP and NREIP students and to be engaged in building an autonomous underwater glider. During Year 1 the Naval STEM Internship Bootcamp will be hosted by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division in Bethesda, Maryland. During Years 2 and 3, there will be two host facilities, NSWC Carderock and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. The four-day Naval STEM Career-Connections Workshop for the School SupportTeam (SST) will engage participants from the same Title 1 high schools that the students attend, along with the addition of counselors/educators from each #feeder# Title 1 middle school. Each SST will tour the host laboratories and meet STEM professionals, learning about their inspiration for choosing a STEM career and the experiences that influenced their positive STEM identity and development. In addition, the counselors will work alongside students to complete hands-on STEM activities as they learn to think like an engineer. Finally, each SST will develop a strategic plan to support students in developing and submitting their SEAP applications and address the STEM identity pipeline between schools. There are four DoN Laboratories in Maryland who host SEAP students each year andare in geographic proximity to Prince George#s County and the District of Columbia: ArmedForces Radiobiology Research Institute, Bethesda; Naval Surface Warfare Center (Carderock), Bethesda; Navy Medical Research Center, Silver Spring; and United States Naval Academy, Annapolis. There are two DoN Laboratories in the District of Columbia: Naval Research Laboratory and the Naval Observatory. These six installations, considered together, typically hire a total of 120 high school students out of 800 students who apply. This effort aims to increase the number of under-represented SEAP applicants by 15% percent after three years.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 12, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312238
Entities
People
- Janice Morrison
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy