There is a serious shortage of female and minority representation in the sciences. To help remedy this problem in ecology, we developed a program called TREE (Turtle Camp Research and Education in Ecology). We seeded the program primarily with an economically and racially diverse group of high school students from rural and urban areas, along with undergraduate and graduate student mentors from across the country. Participants converged at a field site (Turtle Camp) in northwest Illinois on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge and the Army Corps of Engineers Thomson Causeway Recreation Area during June of 2007-2017 (totaling 56 different high school students, 25 undergraduate students, 17 graduate students, and 4 post-doctorates over the 10 years). All individuals worked toward four main goals at Turtle Camp: research experience, education, local outreach, and mentoring. The program capitalized on the extensive diversity in reptiles at the site to allow students to receive hands-on experience with research and related activities.
Results/Conclusions
Anonymous surveys of the high school participants, the vast majority of whom were females and/or minorities, reveal that TREE provided an excellent environment for advancing interest in, and knowledge of, science and for influencing career plans of the participants. A number of alums have gone on to pursue science-related degrees at universities. This program is a model of the importance of outreach, near-peer mentoring, and reflects the commitment of the FWS to engage Youth in the Great Outdoors. We hope that this program can serve as a model to help other organizations develop programs to expose students from diverse backgrounds to the benefits of ecological research, education, outreach, and mentoring.