Great project! Near-peer mentoring is a great idea to develop that STEM identity. Were the HS students purely shadowing the college students, or were they also participating in a research project or other?

We find a similar issue among our minority students (have a high % of Native American, and also serve significant number of African American and hispanics). This year because the possibilities for F2F activities were diminished or absent, we are trying to compensate for the lack of role models by bringing former UNCP and former COMPASS student (our track1 S-STEM program) who are from underrepresented groups and working in various science fields as speakers in various panels (graduate school, industry jobs, conservation jobs, etc). Our COMPASS2 students report being very encouraged by these examples, many of them of very recent alumni, as we our COMPASS program ended only in 2019. These students were in their shoes only a few years ago and now they are scientists out there. You may imagine that our students found really exciting that one of our alumni works at Pfizer :). Initially we had planned to have a "retreat" style gathering where we would have brought former COMPASS students and the new COMPASS2 together but the pandemic derailed these plans.

Other interventions that aim to develop this science identity among our students is to have them participate in research projects, attend conferences (if only virtually this year), and we plan for them to present in the future. 

In the flip model of yours, we are also planning for our undergraduates to help HS teachers at local schools and thereby they can serve as role models to the HS students and likely this will help them to picture themselves as scientists :)

Thanks for your response. Yes, the high school students were actively engaged in the experiments. Glad to know about your work.

Hi Ed!

I too love this program. Mentorship is where it is at and I love the concept of neer - peer mentoring. My question is how do you guys see the teacher guided setting taking place? Would you walk me thru how a teacher would use this in their instruction? 

Many Thanks 

Mike 

I also like the near peer and Identity foci. I also really like how you engaged the students in shooting the videos. How are you planning on measuring your intended outcomes? And like Mike, I am interested in the role of the teacher. How necessary are they? I could imagine that "My STEM" story could be easier to scale, and potentially have broader impact, if it didn't need the teacher guidance.

Thanks! COVID led us to migrate the next stage of our research from a classroom to an online experience, which will also allow the project to be scaled.

Hi there! I think near-peers is a great approach!

I am curious, however, about what you feel is most "replicable" from your work. The people and contexts in which they are mentoring/being mentored is clearly unique, but are there particular processes you think could be used at another site (i.e., recruitment of mentors and mentees, the support structures you have in place to guide mentors and mentees in their growth, or the way you assess changes in mentees' -- or even mentors' -- identities?)

Thank you Dr. Madison and the My STEM Story team!

Applause on the near-peer mentoring approach. It has been our experience, as well, that this is very effective.  Bravo on your essential work.

Beautiful to have the mentors among those sharing the story.

Wonderful video!

Great project!  The near-peer mentoring model looks really interesting and rewarding.  Also, as a filmmaker, I was geeking out over the graphics in your video.  As you transitioned to an online environment and spotlighting different individuals, have you all been providing storytelling or scicomm professional development for the students being spotlighted?  If so, what has that looked like?  Thanks!

Cheers, Dan

Great project! Have you made any of your students stories public online for potential incoming students that aren't local?

Hey Ed! Nice job highlighting your work with near-peer mentoring and storytelling as a means of increasing motivation among high school students. Do you have any results yet about whether the project has impacted the high school students in terms of their persistence into college STEM majors (or even into college at all). I am also curious if you have looked at how the project affects the near-peer mentors. Do they feel an increased sense of motivation as well?

We use a similar approach with younger students, but we are looking to expand to a high school model with near-peer mentoring. What training do you give the mentors and are the high school students already involved in advanced science courses? Also, any recruitment advice? 

Greetings from Corvallis, Ed and team: what a cool project. Near-peer mentoring mostly focuses on the mentee. What did you find out about the mentors?  How were they impacted?