{"id":3328,"date":"2013-12-16T10:23:42","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T15:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=3328"},"modified":"2013-12-16T10:23:42","modified_gmt":"2013-12-16T15:23:42","slug":"3328","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2013\/12\/16\/3328\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering what lies beneath and ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

From the ocean\u2019s depths to the sidewalks of the University of Rhode Island campus, two dozen Roger Williams Middle School students recently explored the many possibilities of higher education and careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.<\/p>\n

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Roger Williams Middle School students, above, get a tour of the Inner Space Center from Brian Kenndedy of NOAA and take a close look (left) at life under the microscope at the Marine Life Science Facility.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The day started off at URI\u2019s Bay Campus, where Danielle Duquette and Andrea Drzewianowski\u00a0showed off the aquarium wonders of sharks and other sea life at the Marine Science Research Facility<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At URI\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography, <\/span>Brian Kennedy<\/a>, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Corps Officer, took the students beneath the sea at the Inner Space Center as they viewed live video feeds from the ocea<\/span>n\u2019s floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

The visit also included a trip to URI\u2019s main campus for lunch at Hope Commons and a tour of the Kingston facility.\u00a0Tim Pelletier, out<\/span>reach and education coordinator for Rhode Island NSF Experime<\/span>ntal Program to\u00a0<\/span>Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), organizes the student trips through the Rhode Island\u00a0<\/span>Educational Talent Search\u00a0(ETS), which provides free help\u00a0<\/span>to students in grades 6-12 who want to complete high school and enroll in a post-secondary institution.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Through the EPSCoR outreach program, we are a<\/span>ble to collaborate with agencies in the state\u00a0<\/span>that support the preparation\u00a0of\u00a0middle school students for college and provide an out-of-classroom science\u00a0experience that they would not otherwise have access to,\u201d Pelletier explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The URI bay and main campus visits offer a dual opportunity \u2014\u00a0to share the educational and career paths in the science and\u00a0<\/span>technology fields and expose students to college life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best feelings I get from seeing these bright students engage in science activities at\u00a0our state’s colleges and universities is how receptive they are to looking\u00a0deeper\u00a0into science and technology,\u201d Pelletier said. \u201cWhether it is listening to our\u00a0researchers talk about their work, or feeling the texture of a summer flounder, they begin to understand that what they are being taught in the classroom applies to real life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Danielle Duquette explains the finer points of marine life, top photo. Later, students enjoy lunch at URI’s Hope Commons on the URI main campus before taking a tour of the Kingston campus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Making that connection brings real life relevance to what students are doing in the classroom and opens the doors to opportunities they might not have perceived possible.\u00a0 For many of the students, visiting URI is their first time on a college campus. And, Narragansett Bay may be their first close encounter with the Ocean State\u2019s shoreline.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ETS trips give students guidance and direction as they navigate the middle\u00a0and high school experience as they\u00a0learn about how their actions directly affect life in the bay\u2019s ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the day, said Pelletier, \u201cThey leave with a sense of direction and know that this is possible for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story and photos by Amy Dunkle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the ocean\u2019s depths to the sidewalks of the University of Rhode Island campus, two dozen Roger Williams Middle School students recently explored the many possibilities of higher education and careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The day started off at URI\u2019s Bay Campus, where Danielle Duquette and Andrea Drzewianowski\u00a0showed off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}