Susan West, Arkansas Tech University associate professor of tourism, is a sub-awardee on a $150,000 USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant to teach tangible life skills to high school students in rural Arkansas.
Entitled “Cultivating Workforce Development and Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders: Mobile Human Sciences Camp Initiative for Rural Arkansas Youth,” the program is in collaboration with the University of Arkansas School of Human Environmental Sciences.
“Arkansas Tech University is both honored and thrilled to welcome the upcoming USDA-funded Mobile Human Sciences Camp to our campus,” said West. “This is a program rooted in innovation, learning and the spirit of community partnership. This camp holds special meaning as my daughter, Dr. Sarah Hixson, returns to the very place where the original idea first sparked when she was a teenager. Seeing that early inspiration grow into a fully realized program that now empowers the next generation is truly remarkable. We’re grateful to the USDA and the University of Arkansas for supporting experiential learning opportunities that align with ATU’s mission of education, discovery and service to Arkansas.”
Hixson serves as assistant professor in the University of Arkansas School of Human Environmental Sciences and is co-primary investigator on the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant.
The camps will provide hands-on, experiential learning activities in key areas of human sciences (apparel, hospitality and nutrition) with a special focus on entrepreneurship and waste reduction from food and textile industries. Participants will be prepared to perform professional competencies benefiting Arkansas students, families and their communities.
For more information about future human sciences camps for high school students at ATU, send e-mail to swest7@atu.edu.
For more information about the grant, visit https://news.uark.edu/articles/80421/grant-funds-faculty-led-mobile-human-science-camps-in-rural-arkansas.
