The purpose of fueling the mind, feeding the world (fmfw) is to prepare high school graduates for college majors and careers in food, agricultural, natural resources, and human sciences by…

The purpose of fueling the mind, feeding the world (fmfw) is to prepare high school graduates for college majors and careers in food, agricultural, natural resources, and human sciences by delivering enhanced context-specific communication and decision-making/problem-solving curricula to students enrolled in secondary agricultural education courses. In a crawford, lang, fink, dalton, and fielitz (2011) study, students, faculty, alumni, and employers ranked communication and decision-making/problem solving skills as the top two, most-desired soft skills. Additionally, when rating students' preparedness as IT relates to soft skills, employers noted they were neither prepared nor unprepared. The primary audience of fmfw is high school agricultural education students and teachers. The secondary audience is community college and university faculty and food, agricultural, natural resources, and human sciences employers. The products are 14 online reusable learning modules (seven focusedin communication and seven in decision-making/problem-solving).communication skill characteristics (crawford ET AL., 2011) include listening effectively; communicating accurately and concisely; communicating orally; communicating pleasantly and professionally; communicating in writing; asking effective questions; and communicating appropriately and professionally using social media.decision-making/problem-solving skill characteristics (crawford ET AL., 2011) include identifying and analyzing problems; taking effective and appropriate actions; realizing the effects of decisions; generating creative and innovative solutions; transferring knowledge from one situation to another; engaging in life-long learning; and thinking abstractly about problems. The intended outcome and impact are students who have communication and decision-making/problem-solving skills who are available for rigorous college programs and/or careers in food, agricultural, natural resources, and human sciences. The primary benefits for students and teachers are access to multidisciplinary, agricultural industry-driven, and adaptable curricula focused on formal soft-skill training at the high school level. More than 800,000 students are currently enrolled in formal agricultural education programs across the 50 states and three U.S. Territories (national FFA organization, 2018). In addition, there are nearly 11,000 middle and high school agricultural teachers seeking to provide quality instruction for students' career and technical collegiate pursuits (naae, 2018). Providing adaptable, formal soft-skill curricula instruction is vital to enhancing human capital. Curricula will be distributed through the national council of agricultural education, extension, and the national FFA organization.