So, you are a high school senior at a small rural school in West Virginia. You love science, you have taken every science/math course available, including honors and AP classes. You are in the top 5% of your school, academically. You KNOW you want to do chemistry research for your career. 

What happens to you, when you enter college as a STEM major?  You are highly likely to change your major, or leave college within your first two years.  The First2 Network aims to understand and change this reality. And the first and most important step is to listen to STEM students, and work with  them to test change ideas.

Let's talk!

Fantastic program Sue Ann, thanks for sharing!  I love the First2 Network's focus on giving the program participants agency early in the process of joining the program.  I am curious about some of what kind of ideas students have contributed to First2.  Are there any student decisions or ideas that improved the First2 network that you could share?

Hi Scott. Lots of change ideas are being implemented because of student voice. Example: STEM faculty know that students who need it often don't come to office hours.  But they didn't know why. First2 students shared their thoughts and fears with faculty at a state-wide convening and brainstormed some ideas like group office hours. Some of our faculty have tried this and polled students to see what they preferred.  Based on their responses the faculty will modify this idea and try it again!

I absolutely love that this project gives voice to students in the co-creation of the program. The idea that students are the best ones to define and solve the problem is so important to project success. Equally important is the ability of project staff to listen, a skill that is often undervalued. Looking to the future, how have you imagined scaling this project to address the needs of other underrepresented students?  

I enjoyed learning about this wonderful project, Sue Ann. It addresses such an important goal, and offers students built-in support from each other and from the First2 staff. In their role as influencers, do First2 students have opportunities to interact with middle grade students? 

Hi Christine,

Not middle school at this point but our project resources many of the First2 undergraduate students to be First2 Ambassadors and there are 3 "flavors". Administrative Ambassadors meet with faculty and decision makers on their campuses, Hometown Ambassadors return to their hometown high schools to talk with students, and their former teachers, and Legislative Ambassadors interact with state legislators and education policy folks.. Anecdotal evidence thus far indicates that our ambassadors are making an impact.  They have been called upon to conduct sessions at our state science and  teachers' conferences; have been consulted by WV Dept. of Education.

Thank you so much for your response. That is incredible outreach, and I love the organization into 3 sections. I am sure it is making an impact across all levels.

This is a great program! I’m wondering how you are studying the short and long term outcomes of the program among the students. Also, how are the students’ voices being relayed to STEM faculty? 

Hi Lisa, we have a crackerjack research team and evaluation team. For all of the institutions that participate in the programming we  have MOUs and shared IRBs to all us to survey all STEM students and compare that to the students who have been engaged in the First2 Program. Then, there are just numbers.  Our goal is to increase the number of first gen students who, having decided to major in STEM, persist to degree completion. We track them from year to year.

Student voices are relayed to faculty very directly, by them. Our students have invited faculty to their campus club meetings, delivered sessions at First2 Convenings.  They interact with our working groups and keep the most pressing issues at the fore. They have even recorded their thoughts on Zoom. As an example, as our students returned home to complete the semester remotely, they really struggled.  They recorded their thoughts, and then spoke them in a "pandemic poem".  This poem has been shared widely including at a virtual state-wide chat.  Check it out. It's raw but it's real! https://youtu.be/GOFfj44Erag

Wow, what a great program, I very much enjoyed your video. Do you support students in all STEM majors? (Or if not, which ones?) Have you seen a difference in what the different majors need?  How long do they keep in touch and stay active?  

Hi Jodi. Yes, all STEM disciplines. There are different needs between students, academically, which is why the campus clubs are amazing.  There is enough diversity among the students to be able to help each other, provide "tutoring" within a warm STEM student community.  We've been at this for about a year and a half, and so far the group seems to be in touch even across campuses. Recent graduates are forming a young alum working group.

Fascinating program! Thanks so much for your video. I love to see the student voice so well represented in the presentation of your work. Can you tell me a little more about the nature of the training that students go through - both as mentors and as program participants? What is the commitment on their end, and are they compensated at all? Looking forward to learning more!

Hi Kenne,

Students are compensated. If they enter the program as an summer research intern before freshman year, they get a $600 stipend for the 2-week internship program.  Then if they continue with us in a leadership capacity they are  compensated  for being a First2 Scholar, which can take the form of doing research in a lab during the school year, being an Ambassador,  and being a mentor. Time commitment varies, and is self regulated but we wanted to make opportunities available for students to work within their chosen profession, rather than adding a fast-food job or unrelated work-study on top of trying to climb the STEM ladder.

Thanks for sharing this. What a great program! 

I'm also really interested in the training aspects for your student mentors. How did you develop the initial training program? Did you have specific outcomes for the training? Do you assess the training? Have you identified criteria that are most important for choosing student mentors? Do you have criteria for choosing faculty partners / projects?

Very interesting project. Do the students have later opportunities to engage in sustained undergraduate research opportunities?

The near peer mentoring experience is wonderful--it's capacity building on both sides. This looks like a great program!

Great project!  We have found that our peer mentors are an important piece to our program!  Thank you for sharing a similar finding!