Understanding the High School Student and their Advisors: A Key Component to Retention and RecruitmentStudent and Faculty Insights from 2010 NPT2 Summer Institutes

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Today’s High School Student…

- Is more personally technologically savvy than any previous generation

- Sees their computer and cell phone as an extension of themselves

- Relies less on printed material and more on on-line information- Views the world in a unique way

- Smaller world due to the internet

- Has hundreds of “friends” via social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace)

- Learns news instantaneously

- Contributes to information (Wikipedia, Twitter, Blogs)-Will enter a challenging job market

- Know that they may not be more economically successful than their parents due to the job market

- May not be able to find summer or part-time jobs today’s economy

- May be helping to support their family today and in the future

- Will change jobs and companies more frequently than their parents did

- Optimistic about their ability to make more money in the future (Pew Study: Millennials, 1/10)

QuickTime™ and a decompressorare needed to see this picture.

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Study Principles and Caveats

Key principles• The more we learn about high school students perceptions and needs the better equipped NPT2 will be to get and keep students in the program• Using language and tools students endorse will lead to greater success• The summer institute program gives us a chance to learn from students, “hook” them into the program and get them to be advocates of the program• Student advisors can help us to understand how to reach students• Student advisors are a powerful constituency group for NPT2

Caveats and Clarifications• Only 3 community colleges participated in the pre-survey (KVCC, LCCC and ASCC)

• ICC’s session was only one day and was scheduled early in the sequence of programs • This did not allow for doing both a pre and post survey. The effect of the large number of students coming from ICC is

noted where relevant. Given most of the questions do not contain a pre and post measure this doesn’t affect the majority of the questions

• An assumption is made that the communication results (focused on in the pre-survey) can apply to students at ICC as well as the other community colleges

• The sample sizes, with the exception of the student post study, are not large enough to be projectable. However they do give us directional information that will allow for decision making around strategy, planning and communications• The term faculty and advisors is used interchangeably throughout the presentation. While oftentimes the high school officials influencing students are teachers, our desire is to see them in an advisory capacity for students

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Table of Contents

Key Objectives Page• Learn about the students who are attending 5-12

the 2010 Summer institute• Learn what motivates students in their career choice 13-16• Learn how to best reach and communicate with 17-25 students and their schools • Learn how to best reach the advisors 26-32• Learn students and advisors knowledge and expectations 33-37 of the pulp and paper industry• Learn the ideal time to get students engaged 38-39• Learn ways we can get/keep potential students engaged in the pulp and paper industry post summer institute 40-44• Making the summer institute better 45-48

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Key Objective: Learn about the students who are attending the 2010

Summer Institute

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Age

• 17 year olds were the age group most heavily represented in both the pre and post surveys

• Mean of the student population on the pre-student survey was 16.72

• Mean of the post was 16.26- The average age was driven

lower by higher numbers of 12 (5), 13 (9) and 14 (14) year olds participating in the Itasca program

• Only 2 students were over 18 (one 19 year old and one 29 year old)

- Both students were from either KVCC, LCCC or ASCC

Post-Survey

Pre- Survey

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Males versus Females

• As expected, the majority of participants in the program are male

• However, at Itasca the percentage of males is higher than at the combination of the other three schools

- 30% of the participants in the other three schools are girls, yet when Itasca is factored in, that number decreases to 22%

• This matches the overall trend toward females in engineering fields

• Women earn over 50% of bachelor degrees, but only 21% in engineering*

• As girls get older they move away from STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math)*

Post-Survey

Pre- Survey

*Source: ’SciGirls’ aims to change the way girls think about

science, engineering, MinnPost.com, Sharon Schmickle 2/12/10

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Students Plans After High School

• In both pre and post surveys more students plan to go to 4-year colleges than 2-year colleges

• Higher percentage in post survey is driven by addition of Itasca data

• Engineering is the favored prospective major

- Driven by Itasca

• Nursing, math, science and electrical maintenance are also popular areas of study

• Pulp and paper curriculum are of interest to some students

Post-Survey

Pre- Survey

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Reasons for attending the Summer Institute• While getting paid to attend the summer institute is a driver for attendance, students are participating with college in mind

• Half the students believe it will look good on their college application/resume

• Personal connections to the industry are less important reasons for attendance

Students

Faculty

• Faculty agree with students on the top five drivers for student attendance in the summer institute

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Ways students learn about the summer program• Teachers are the driving factor in

students learning about the summer institute

• Science teachers are the greatest source of information with math teachers a distant second.

• Continue to reach out to this resource and use them as a way of reaching other faculty

• Friends and parents are cited much less frequently as summer program information sources

• However, given the influence of these two groups, every opportunity should be made to reach out and enlist them in getting students engaged

• Fewer than 10% of students cite outreach communication methods including flyers, the internet and classroom presentations as a source of information on the program

Knowing students interest in getting information from the internet, it is an untapped resource. Make the NPT2 and Community college websites easy to navigate and interesting enough that students want to return• Classroom presentations are another potential forum given students interest in that medium• Flyers are not effective and money would be better spent on on-line activity

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Conclusions and Recommendations

• An opportunity exists to reach students long before they are in high school

• Students as young as 12 participated in the summer institute program

• Faculty indicates that preparation for careers begins as early as 5th grade

• Develop age specific curriculum that will build interest and cultivate students at different ages

• Cultivate students over time, keep them interested by following up with them via emails and through making the website engaging

• Develop a timeline for engagement for 2011-2020.• For each year determine how you will reach students from 5th grade through seniors setting

up an action plan for each age group- Set clear objectives with number targets of how many students of each age you will need

to get to the desired number of end students• Work with industry to determine the number of workers they will be needing for each of the

respective years• Partner with mills and have college/manufacturer teams of ambassadors for school districts to

shepherd students, keep them engaged• Examine the idea of counselors-in-training

• Have students who have been through the program help in the next year’s program

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Conclusions and Recommendations

• Many of the students coming to the program are already interested in 4 year programs and are using the summer institute as a credential for their college applications/resume

• These are students who are not likely to enter the two year program

• Assuming the goal of the summer institute is to bring students into the community colleges, more targeting, screening and recruitment of potential students needs to be done

• Identify students early on with potential for the program and industry. Target them for enrollment much the same way athletes or high interest candidates in a company are pursued. Court the selected students, make them feel important and wanted by the community colleges and the industry.

• Although males dominate the field, NSF is committed to reaching out to female students

• Look at:• Speaking specifically to girls about the program• Research SciGirls and other similar programs to find out what is working• Have females in the industry speak about their experience

• Enlist support from local mills. Talk to women in the field and understand what they like about their experience and why they would recommend it to students.

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Key Objective: Learn what motivates students in their career choice

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What matters to students • Loving the work is overwhelmingly the most important consideration in a career decision for this group of students

•Tied to that is doing work that uses skills and is challenging as well as offering opportunities for advancement

• Benefits and salary, while important, are not the most important factor for the majority of students

• Staying in the community and contributing to it are also important factors for students

• Students have a wide range of job characteristics that matter to them, with loving the work the only one cited

by a majority

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Advisors Perceptions of what matters to students

• In contrast to students, a high percentage of advisors believe salary considerations are very important to students

• Loving what they do and being able to stay in the community round out their perceptions of the next most important factors

for students • Faculty are coalesced around those job characteristics that are important to students whereas students are not

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Conclusions and Recommendations

• While it is important to mention that paper and pulp industry jobs offer good salaries and benefits, stress that the field offers challenges and ability to use their math and science skill set •Talk to employees in the field

• Find out what they love about their jobs so those characteristics can be translated into selling points for students

• Review the work Tappi has already done (script and clips about what young employees say about the field) and mine for information

• An important part of the engagement process is determining those industry factors that will drive interest in students and customize the message to their age group

• Figure out what they will potentially “love about the work” and then test the assumptions with current students

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Key Objective: Learn how to best reach and communicate with students

and their schools

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Influencers

• Parents are the strongest influencers for students’ career choice

• Faculty and students agree that teachers and friends are the next most important influencers

- However, students perceive them as much less important than the faculty see them

• For students, counselors and coaches play a much smaller role in career decision making than faculty thinks they do

• Students cite their own interests as being a driving force in their choice of career

Faculty

Students

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Where students get information from• Parents, in addition to being the strongest influencers for students’ career choice, are also their primary resource for getting information• The internet and teachers follow closely with friends and television rounding out the top five information sources.• Neither twitter nor MySpace play an important social media role in getting information

• Facebook, while bigger, doesn’t play as large a role in getting information as magazines and newspapers.

• This doesn’t mean social media is not important, it simply is not used as a major means of gaining information.

• The internet is THE most popular way to get information with 25% of the students citing the web as their favorite way to get information.

• Teachers are a distant second.

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Where faculty thinks students get information from

• Faculty sees students’ friends and social networking tools (Facebook) as being a stronger source of information than students do

• Again it is not that Facebook is not important, it is a tool for interacting with their friends, not the way they want to get information

• However, they are in agreement that the Internet is very important and the favorite way for students to get information

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Potential sources of information• Not surprisingly, students are open to being contacted via technology to get information

• Community college websites and direct emails are their preferred methods. Over 60% of the students currently follow colleges via their websites.

• Over 60% would be a fan of their community colleges on Facebook while less than 40% would be engaged through MySpace. Twitter is not of interest.

- While students are willing to be fans it is not worth the time and effort to cultivate a fan page at this point

- All the focus should be on developing the best NPT2 and community college websites and linking them together

• Students are also very open to getting information through in-person activities and this should be pursued

Students

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Students want to know about…

• Upcoming events, deadlines• Jobs, training and career opportunities• Scholarships• Programs, activities• Tuition, costs• Types of classes they need• College events• Volunteer opportunities• Other summer institutes• Sports• Curriculum

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Potential sources of information• As with their perceptions of where students get information, faculty see students as more interested in using social media sites for information than the students see themselves• They are in agreement that emails, websites and face-to-face meetings are potential vehicles to reach students• Advisors prefer to get information via emails and/or websites as well

• Make certain the faculty portions of the websites are compelling, robust and relevant

• Set clear objective around the number of faculty members you want to reach and track progress

• Develop relationships with influential faculty in the high schools, junior highs and grade schools

Faculty

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Potential sources of information: Schools use of social media

• Social media for schools is largely driven through use of websites (96% of schools have a website) and YouTube (70% of schools use the platform)

• Facebook is used much less frequently while twitter and MySpace are not a factor

• Develop relationships with administrators of these vehicles in order to harness their potential

• Engage science and math teachers as advocates

• A key part of the communication plan should be self-contained program information modules that will make it easy for schools to put the information on their sites or incorporate it into their curriculum

• Learn any deterrents or barriers to being able to use these tools prior to program development

Faculty responses

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YouTube• YouTube is popular among students for entertainment and music and for high schools for education and teaching

• The opportunity is the sweet spot of education and entertainment, where students will want to watch the videos and schools will see it fitting into their curriculum

• Use the medium to portray this industry as one where you can do interesting work

• Take science experiments and present them in meaningful, understandable yet humorous ways

• Students like the big equipment at the mills• Develop a video of “super-sized” machinery in

action (being cognizant of confidentiality issues)• Have students present experiments

• Identification with “people like them”• Use music in background as way in increase

interest

• Kinetic type or other graphic depictions of information can be a break through way to get information across cost effectively

• When the vehicle is YouTube there is not necessarily a need for professional looking content

• Legions of well viewed content is not professionally produced

• However, there must be an entertainment value to it (whether serious or humorous)

Faculty

Students

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Key Objective: Learn how to best reach the advisors

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Teachers are the primary faculty in attendance

• Science teachers make up the majority of participants

• Biology, chemistry, physics

• This aligns with student’s identifying science teachers as the greatest academic influence on attendance

• Math and special ed teachers make up the majority of the remaining faculty members

• Enlist these constituencies as evangelists for both students and other faculty to help drive attendance

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The Summer Institute is a powerful tool

• Before attending the summer institute, only 44% of the faculty recommend the program. • The strength of the summer institute is demonstrated by the increase in the faculty members positive perceptions of the pulp and paper industry. Over 82% of the faculty indicated their minds were changed AND 100% indicate they would be more likely to recommend it

• Educators perceive the industry as “being a viable employment opportunity for students if they attend post-secondary school”

• Interesting jobs

• Good career choice, lots to learn, lots of opportunity

• Technologically advanced field with great promise

• “…would definitely tell them to consider the industry as a career option”

Post-survey

Pre-survey

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The Summer Institute is a powerful tool

• Faculty members become educated advocates for the program…

• “Viable jobs, especially with baby boomers retiring”

• “Good engineering opportunities”

• “ Good opportunity at a variety of education levels”

• “Appears to be a growing area for employment”

• “The focus of renewable energy resources( biofuels, etc.) I feel will interest more students”

• “So many different jobs available - from accounting to engineering”

• “I know enough to give educational and career advice to steer the right students in this direction”

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The Summer Institute is a powerful tool

• Faculty members are willing to be evangelists• “I would be happy to tell students about the opportunities available close by for challenging and rewarding work. I

would tell faculty to come to the institute to learn and also I will help my colleagues know about this opportunity for students. I want them to be able to go through the institute too. I want them to know enough to be able to make choices in their education and career that includes consideration of this industry.”

• “I now would encourage my students to research this area and pursue this as a future career. Also, good pay. I would encourage my faculty members to attend a summer institute.”

• Follow up with faculty within the next month, thanking for them for attending and setting the stage for the future plan and how you want to engage them

• There doesn’t have to be firm content, but let them know there are plans underway and that you will be getting back to them regularly

• Help faculty determine which students will be successful in the program and more importantly in the career

• One faculty participant suggests: “…have students who were not necessarily greatly motivated in high school, but are really psyched now. There are a lot of kind of ‘iffy’ students out there who would be great workers, but they can’t picture themselves anywhere or set goals. I think it is because they don’t know what is out there.”

• Use the summer program content as a platform for developing additional seminars and workshops

• Explore translating the hands on programs to on-line based programs

• Videotape students engaged in activities and put on YouTube

• Develop modules that teachers could use in the classrooms based on the institute curriculum

• Use the data from this study to enlist funding from manufacturers• If you can change educators minds with this program, make it bigger, more available

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Ways faculty learn about the summer program

• Faculty members learn about the program in very different ways than students

• Websites, the internet and flyers are the primary means of learning

• Faculty also tend to be influenced by NPT2 staff via email and conversations

• Peers are another important source of program information

• Networking with and through faculty should be an important means of making them aware of the program

• Determining key influencers among faculty members can help that engagement

• Printed materials reach and influence faculty

• However, a more cost effective way would be to increase web based initiatives, either through high school websites* (96% of high schools represented have web sites), community college websites, the NPT2 website and/or via email*assuming high schools allow

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Faculty want to know about…

• Many of the same things students are interested in, faculty are interested in.

• Upcoming events, deadlines

• Jobs, training and career opportunities

• Scholarships

• Programs, activities

• Business skills and trends

• Course requirements and offerings

• Internships

• New programs

• Career planning

• Professional development

• Remedial programs

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Key Objective: Learn students and advisors knowledge and perceptions

of the pulp and paper industry

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Student Perceptions of the Pulp and Paper Industry: Pre Summer Institute

Pre-survey view of individual responsesPre-survey view of averages

• Pre summer institute the students had a neutral to positive perception of the industry.

• Very few negative perceptions

• Strong recognition that the industry is important to the community, the work is valuable and that you need an education to get a job

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Student Perceptions of the Pulp and Paper Industry: Post Summer Institute*

• On average, post summer institute students rank all dimensions as neutral or above. A large number strongly agree that the industry is high tech, valuable work, important to the community, allows them to stay in their community and that they need an education to enter the field.

Post-survey view of averages Post-survey view of individual responses

*We can’t do a direct comparison of pre and post student data due to the inclusion of Itasca in the post-survey and not

the pre-survey.

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Comparison Faculty Perceptions of the Pulp and Paper Industry: Pre and Post

Pre-survey Post-survey

• While faculty had an overall neutral to positive perception of the industry before attending the Summer Institute, their perceptions on almost all dimensions improved post workshop with all but regular schedule moving above neutral.

• Importantly, the perception of pulp and paper as a growing industry moved to north of agree.

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Faculty Pre and Post Perceptions of the Pulp and Paper Industry

Post-survey

Pre-survey

• Post summer institute, the individual faculty perceptions became more positive with more strongly agrees, fewer strongly disagrees and neutrals moving to agrees.

• In the post-survey all agreed the pulp and paper industry was a good place to work, important to the community and high paying. There was a large increase in the perception of the industry as high tech and as a growing industry.

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Key Objective: Learn the ideal time to get students engaged

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The “right time” to get students interested in the industry• There is a wide range of faculty opinions around the ideal time to get

students interested in the pulp and paper industry

• Varies from elementary school to junior year of high school• The case for starting with 5th graders

• “In 5th grade math and science begins to be emphasized”• “5th grade start to stress math and science for real life jobs. They are old enough to begin

thinking about careers.”

• Some faculty think 6th grade is the ideal time to start • “… 6th graders are serious, eager and optimistic. It is the perfect time to get their attention

before they have to be cool.”

• Junior High School• “Start general career exploration in junior high (7th to 8th graders) with more specifics in high

school”• “Students need to start thinking about a career before they attend High School…too many

students do not have the skills (math, reading) to be successful in a college-prep curriculum”• “8th, should start planning since 9-12 should be directed toward a specific career path” • “8th-make students aware of career possibilities so they know to think about them”

• High school• “9th, when credit starts to be important, goals and career interests need to play a role”• “9th, they need to starting planning classes for college of interest”• “I think the junior year is the most important year to get students interested. This seems to be

when they are most interested and realistic about their future.”

• Regardless of which point-of-view is correct it is clear that with an average age of 16-17 in the summer program we are currently not reaching students early enough

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Key Objective: Learn ways we can get/keep potential students engaged in the pulp and paper industry post

Summer Institute

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Keeping students interested

• Students are pragmatic when it comes to keeping them interested in the field

• They are concerned about scholarships and opportunities for positions

• Make these very visible on the NPT2 and community college websites

• Get email addresses and send them information directly

• As a reinforcement also send this information to teachers and parents

• They want to learn more about the program either through more workshops or student success stories

• A third of students are open to the idea of mentoring with students in the program

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Getting Students Engaged

• Faculty suggestions:

• Educational outreach• Go to individual school districts for in-service days and offer free training• Offer academic support• Let students know early in the educational process the types of courses they need to

take to be successful• Offer more summer/weekend/vacation programs and make them available to

younger students• Come to campus during school day for pulp and paper careers• Make programs accessible to students• Arrange job shadows• Provide small group discussions for students• Conduct seminars and presentations at the schools• Provide individual attention to students• Have industry experts speak• Help students get ready

• Resume development• Mock interviews

• Emphasize concrete job skills they will gain• Team work, conflict resolution, developing a work ethic

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Students talk about the cool factor• Students find the environmental responsible aspects of the industry compelling

• “Recycling and little waste”

• “Renewable energy”

• “…Helps with the environment for me down the road”

• “Renewable energy”• The technology is interesting

• Computers that control the equipment”

• “High technology, high pay”

• Computer controlled programming• The machinery and what it can do captures their imagination

• The “Super size it” phenomenon• Giant equipment, big quantities of paper

• “sheer speed”• “explosive fire when the paper catches”• “the size of the rolls”

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Students talk about the cool factor (cont.)•The machinery and what it can do captures their imagination (cont.)

• … they start with little and have long machines going so fast and they can control it so easily…”

• “how much paper is made each day”

• “enormous machines used and quantities created”• Dynamic industry

• “The industry evolves and changes with public desires”

• “The industry is becoming more automated”• Valuable to society

• “The whole country is using your product”

• “It provides paper to some national magazines”

• “It is very important to our society”• The job opportunities and work environment

• “…Enjoy working with other people”

• “…the job opportunities it has to offer”

• “that you work hands on”

• There is more than technology and sustainability that makes students interested

• Take the concept of “super size it” and explore creative video or website content ideas

• Use students words to talk to other potential students

• They are articulate and insightful regarding what appeals to them

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Key Objective: Making the summer institute better

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Students Perception of the Summer institute

• They get the messages and they are thoughtful in their consideration

• “It changed my view because it takes a lot of schooling to get a job”

• “I realized it involved more technological skill than I initially believed”

• ”I know it is a good job now”

• “it’s interesting, but not for me”

• “It showed me that you actually need to be pretty smart to work with all the technology”

• “It showed me that getting an education is very important”

• “It made me want to consider working in the paper industry”

• “Now don’t think of the mill as a smelly useless place”

• “I started with not good or bad view of the pulp and paper industry, but now I would say I have a good view of the industry”

• “I know it is more environmentally friendly”

• “I didn’t know it was so complicated”

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Students Like the Summer institute

• Overwhelmingly positive about the experience

• Many would have liked the institute to be longer

• They loved the activities and hands on opportunities

• Some suggestions:• Make food healthier and more plentiful• Make it as hands on as possible

• Provide more labs• Involve the students more in the lectures• Let them keep their projects

• Lectures • Fewer lectures• Have more speakers• Make the power points more interesting

• Balance free time and active time• Too intense for some, others want more work

• Make it more pragmatic• What classes should they take?• What are the local options to get into the field?• What are the specific curriculum?

• Curriculum• Learn more about logging and equipment

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The takeaway for their friends

• Mostly positive

• “Good career and you can make good money”

• “It is fun” “It’s neat” “It’s cool”

• It is a growing industry

• Awesome machines

• More interesting than I thought

• “Loads of overtime”

• “It is increasingly high tech and valuable”

• It is eco-friendly

• A few are unimpressed

• “It would be an ok place to work if you had no other”

• “It’s alright, but not the best”

Bottom line, it is not the right field for everyone, but the summer institute definitely engages students