K20 Scholars program benefits students and their hometowns

Building a future can be expensive, especially if you are a college student. Which is why college scholarships are so important. Scholarships definitely help ease the cost of college and for many students can be the deciding factor of whether they can go to college. But the K20 Center’s program, K20 Scholars, takes scholarships a step further by not only financially helping students build their future, but also the students’ hometowns through service learning.

The K20 Scholars program offers scholarships to high school graduates from the K20 Center’s network schools who are entering the University of Oklahoma to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The program provides four-year scholarships and a laptop computer for each student. K20 Scholars also receive additional money to design and implement a service-learning project in their hometown.

According to K20 Center Director Mary John O’Hair, service learning is a vital, and often overlooked, part of education. “Educating the whole student goes beyond books and research,” said O’Hair. “By addressing the social, economic and political concerns of their local and immediate communities, student learning becomes connected and meaningful rather than fragmented and abstract.”

Since 2003 the K20 Center has sponsored a handful of K20 Scholars. Thanks to a recent donation from BP, the number will increase to 23 in 2008.

The First Scholar

Dewey Hulsey wasn’t planning on going to OU, or any college for that matter. As a high school junior living in the small rural town of Quinton, Okla., Hulsey figured his options were limited to working on a farm or an oilfield.

But after working with the K20 Center to help install new technology equipment purchased for his school with an Oklahoma Educational Technology Trust grant, college became a goal.

“Before that college wasn’t a realistic thing for me at the time. I thought maybe I wasn’t cut out for college so I hadn’t applied anywhere,” said Hulsey.

K20 Center technology director Scott Charleson worked closely with Hulsey at his high school and encouraged Hulsey to come to OU. After exploring colleges and applying for grants like the K20 Center Scholars, Hulsey chose OU.

Today he is a senior majoring in computer science and visual communications.
Hulsey also uses his computer skills for the K20 Center as a technology specialist. Some of his work can be seen on the K20 Center’s Web sites. Hulsey helped code and design several of the K20 Center's Web sites.

After graduation Hulsey plans to continue working with Web technologies designing and programming cutting-edge web software, even possibly owning a design firm.

“Being excited about technology changed my life, my vision. Having someone believe in you and show you new possibilities – that inspiration made the difference for me,” said Hulsey.

Crazy Scientists

Another K20 Scholar is OU sophomore Michelle Schuller. A graduate of Geary, Okla., Schuller’s graduating class had 33 students.

But being in a rural town did not stop Schuller from seeking opportunities to excel. Besides playing volleyball and softball, Schuller was in academic clubs, earned a trip to a leadership camp in North Carolina, and in her senior year received a Rotary scholarship for her volunteer work.

Like Hulsey, Schuller learned about the K20 Scholar program when her school became part of the K20 Center’s school network. When the principal found out Schuller wanted to come to OU, he introduced her to the K20 Center in 2005.

This year Schuller will be a junior majoring in health and exercise science and plans on becoming an occupational therapist. She is in the OU Honors College and is a teaching assistant for University College’s Freshman Programs. She also is a work-study student at the K20 Center.

“K20 exposed me to the world of research,” said Schuller. “By helping gather research data and having to design a research project myself, I am seriously considering going for my doctoral degree and going into research as a career. Before, I thought research was only done by crazy scientists.”

Paying It Forward

One of the major components of the K20 Scholars program is service learning, as seen in the K20 Center’s IDEALS framework (http://k20network.ou.edu/about/framework).

Both students have some time before they begin their community service project, but have a few ideas in mind.

“I want to do something that will get students in Quinton involved with computers and show them that the possibilities with computers are endless and achievable,” said Hulsey.

Schuller wants to combine her occupational therapy with another one of her interests, social therapy. She is investigating developing a community garden that would be maintained by the citizens of Geary.

“The K20 Scholars program has given me a lot of opportunities that I wouldn’t have had, like this community project. It is cool to meet with the schools and help them out –
knowing that we are doing good,” said Schuller.

Human Potential — A Great Investment

Typically, when businesses invest they want to know their return of investment – hard numbers that justify the expense. But with scholarships, the numbers often appear on paper, not in human form. The K20 Scholars program offers funders the chance to see first-hand the benefit of investing in human potential.

In addition to several opportunities to meet and talk with the K20 scholars, each student is required to participate in STEM-related research; share projects with K-12 schools across Oklahoma; and hold internships, or research experiences with industry and academic partners.

When Hulsey was a college freshman, he received a computer grant from a company but did not have personal contact with them.

“It really helped me out a lot, but I think that the company would have liked to have been a little more involved in their scholarship, instead of just funding my studies,” said Hulsey.

“The K20 Scholars program is tailored to meet the student’s needs and connects back with the scholarship recipient,” said Hulsey. “Companies that sponsor K20 Scholars are making an investment instead of a subsidy.”

With the recent donation from BP to sponsor several K20 Scholars, the investment in the future looks brighter for students and their hometowns, the university and ultimately the workforce.

Programming bions, tackling world disease and building robots. This wasn’t your ordinary summer camp, nor were these your ordinary campers. These campers were junior high and high school science teachers turned into researchers so they could in turn become better science teachers.

For two weeks in June, 40 science teachers participated in the K20 Center’s summer science camp, K20 Research Experiences for Science Teachers. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the camp pairs university researchers with science teachers to engage them in current research and help them develop ways to integrate their experiences into their science lessons.

The camp is critical from both a local and national standpoint since science education in America is considered in crisis, and a topic of great concern from the White House to the workforce.

Camp for Science Teachers

The KREST teachers came from schools all over Oklahoma and as far away as France to learn inquiry science methods and exchange ideas with other science teachers. The group’s teaching experiences were just as wide ranging as their ZIP codes, spanning from first-year teachers to experienced veterans in the classroom.

Based on their subject preference, the teachers were divided into small groups of four and paired with a university researcher. The groups spent the first half of each day out in the research field with their scientist. In the afternoon, the teachers learned more about the inquiry-based science method and how to integrate it into their classrooms.

Many of the groups used state-of-the-art technology for their research. In the bions group, the teachers were programming and building interactive computer art that explores the relationship between humans and artificial life. In microbiology, the students used DNA sequencing to test produce, something researcher Cody Sheik said was not available to the students four years ago.

Of course, the teachers are not expected to replicate the research in their classroom but rather use the experience to develop elements of inquiry and research with their science students.

“I want take away the actual process that we worked through and learn how can we bring this scientific process back into the classroom,” said science teacher Daniel Covey.

The World Around Us

Conducting research in such areas as global diseases, ecology, genetics, microbiology, global warming and robotics took the groups everywhere from the laboratory to the forest. Three of the eight science groups traveled south to Kessler Farms near Washington, literally looking under rocks and trees for their data.

Teachers in Phil Gibson’s group went into prairie and forest areas to identify trees species and quantify the diversity of local forests using techniques used by foresters, conservation managers and plant ecologists.

Gibson, a botany professor, volunteered to lead a research group for the second year in a row to help people overcome what he terms “plant blindness.”

“When I ask a group to identify how many separate plant species they see in the first week, they name 15 to 20 species,” said Gibson. “ By the second week, Gibson said the group will find 40 to 60 species in the same area.

“This project helps teachers understand and appreciate plant diversity and get their students to understand that these are important natural resources that we have to think about to keep a healthy planet,” added Gibson.

Getting Fresh

In Sheik’s microbiology group, the science teachers selected a favorite fruit or vegetable to test the different bacterial communities inhabiting the food.  The group used microbiology and DNA sequencing to determine if where you buy and how you wash fruits and vegetables makes a difference.

Pleasantly surprised, after numerous tests the group discovered the bacteria on their chosen food were harmless, which proves Sheik’s point that not all bacteria are harmful.

“There have been a lot of dangerous food bacteria in the news. After two weeks I hope the teachers walk away with a better understanding of microbiology and that not all bacteria are dangerous to you; most are inert or actually helpful.

“For example,” said Sheik, “bacteria in the stomach helps break down food, and the production of biofuels is microbe driven.”

Is the Hypothesis Correct?

There is no doubt that pairing science teachers with scientific experts and working with cutting-edge research will enhance science education. Engaging students in authentic learning motivates students to think more like scientists and develop critical thinking processes. The true litmus test is whether they can motivate students to pursue science degrees and, ultimately, scientific careers.

KREST began in 2003, so is too new to determine the long-term impact on students’career paths. But according to Sheik, the camp already is changing the way science is taught in the classroom.

Recently Sheik, who has volunteered for KREST for three years, saw one of his first-year participants highlighted in a video about innovative learning.

“She was teaching hands-on science and directed approach,” said Sheik. “Her students looked like they were having a lot more fun than just sitting there reading out of a textbook. It was great to see that feedback from a former student.”

Bringing It All Together

Union science teacher Emily Turner was in the forest community group, one that she said she typically wouldn’t choose. “I had a lot of bug bites and ticks the first few days,” said Turner.

But Turner appreciated the chance to learn more about forestry, saying the more exposure she has to different types of research, the more she can help her students see real-world applications of science and more chances to break the science myth.

“If students are exposed to different areas of science, they can see that they don’t have to always be wearing a lab coat, sitting in a lab doing some kinds of chemistry.  We can show them that everything they are involved in, everything they enjoy, can be translated back to some type of science field.”