Help Us Save the Boise State GK-12 Program!

During the 2012-2013 academic school year I had the privilege of participating in a truly unique educational program at Boise State University: the Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education, or simply GK-12.

For six years the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) GK-12 program partnered Boise State graduate students in the Geological and Biological Sciences with local learning center partners delivering K-12 education. The main goals of the program were to improve K-12 scientific learning within the greater-Boise community while at the same time improving graduate students general scientific communication skills.

So often scientists have a very difficult time communicating scientific concepts to a general audience, and this program set out to shift that paradigm: one graduate student at a time.

On every possible level this program has succeeded and surpassed it’s original goals, but I am sad to say that the money from the original NSF grant is coming to an end after this year. This means that three greater-Boise learning center partners, the MK Nature Center, Foothills Learning Center, and Boise Watershed, will have substantially reduced educational outreach potential beginning next year.

It also means that graduate students at Boise State will no longer have the unique ability to develop those critical communication skills often lacking in our scientific community. Last, and most importantly, the K-12 children of Boise will no longer have the opportunity to develop that scientific curiosity from young, early-career experts in the Geosciences and Biological Sciences from Boise State.

So what can be done? Wild Lens is partnering with Boise State to produce a short promotional video that can be used to create renewed excitement around the GK-12 program and help garner funding opportunities through the university’s development program.

As Karen Viskupic, head of the GK-12 at Boise State put it: this is a program where everybody wins. Boise State graduate students acquire critical communication skills, local learning center partners receive added staff and scientific expertise, and the K-12 community in Boise receives a well-rounded environmental and scientific educational experience.

Help us spread the word and generate funding opportunities for this amazing environmental education program here in Boise so that future generations of graduate and K-12 students don’t lose out on this unique experience.