News Release

EnvironMentors Program Puts Underrepresented Youth On Track for College

Media Contact:
Thomas Easley, College of Natural Resources, 919/513-0534

Sept. 11, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

North Carolina State University is serving as the national pilot school for an innovative new academic program aimed at preparing traditionally underrepresented student populations for college and careers in the fields of environmental sciences and natural resources.

EnvironMentors is an environment-based mentoring program, in which NC State graduate students, professors and natural resources professionals partner with high school students for a year. During this time period the students are required to develop environmentally based science projects and present them to elementary school students as well as at an annual science fair.

The program began in 1992 in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (NEETF). In the 14 years since its inception, EnvironMentors has demonstrated a successful track record: 98 percent of program participants go to college, and 50 percent of those students go on to careers in the field of natural resources.

Last year the National Council of Science and the Environment (NCSE) inherited EnvironMentors, and decided to expand the program nationally. In Washington D.C., the mentors are primarily government employees in the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies. Since that unique situation cannot readily be duplicated elsewhere, NCSE hopes that the program will translate well to a university-driven model. Following an effort led by Provost Larry Nielsen, NC State was chosen as the pilot school.

“NC State is delighted to serve as the first university to implement the EnvironMentors program,” Nielsen says. “We believe that it offers us a unique opportunity to serve a student population that may not be aware of the academic and career possibilities available in environmental sciences and natural resources.”

Thomas Easley, director of community diversity in the College of Natural Resources, is responsible for recruiting mentors and students to participate in EnvironMentors, and says that the initial responses to his efforts are encouraging.

“Within two days of sending out my first e-mail about the program, I’d already gotten responses from all over campus – even from folks whose backgrounds aren’t necessarily in natural resources,” Easley says. “And that’s the beauty of the program: because environmental issues really do impact every discipline, it gives us the opportunity to get involvement from every part of the university, and that can only benefit these students.”    

“For our first year, we’re keeping the cohort of students small,” Easley says. “We’re looking at about 15 students from Broughton and Garner high schools, and 15-20 mentors from NC State as well as from the Wake County Parks System. If we’re successful, then we’ll try to expand the program within Wake County.”