Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** our project supports two…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** our project supports two educational need areas of this funding opportunity: (1) student recruitment, retention, mentoring and educational equity and (2) student experiential learning. By addressing these areas of need, our near-peer mentorship program will better prepare K10-14 women and minorities (w & m) students in rural arkansas for forestry stem studies in college, leading to successful degree completion and hiring into stem industries post-college. We propose the project given the fact that 5% of arkansas' GDP is carried by the forest sector, making IT the most forestry-dependent economy of all the southern states. However, there is substantial concern regarding labor shortages within the state's forestry industries. A recent survey of registered foresters in arkansas found that all respondents were white men, despite the state being comprised of 51% women and 30% minorities. This finding aligns with common perceptions of forestry as a white men-dominated sector. Therefore, IT is crucial to make efforts to attract w & m to diversify and increase the forest workforce. The program will be developed at the college of forestry, agriculture, and natural resources (cfanr) at university of arkansas at monticello - the only school of forestry in arkansas. Each year, ten K10-K14 w & m students in rural arkansas will be paired with ten current w & m cfanr students. They will work on their preferred science projects and compete in competitions such as 4-h, future farmers of america (FFA), and science fair. The competition winners will be eligible to pursue numerous forestry specific scholarships in cfanr. With a college degree and more science exposure, these w & m are expected to be the future leaders in a competent and qualified forest sector workforce.