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Director of the UNM Prevention Research Center Sally Davis noticed a lack of students from the poorer, more rural parts of New Mexico attending the University.
So she applied for a $1.3 million grant to develop a program that aims to teach health sciences to sixth through eighth grade students from rural communities.
Davis said the center works with communities all over New Mexico, most of which are small and rural, and noticed that some of the students don’t have an interest in going to college.
“They don’t necessarily get interested in the sciences or in coming to the University,” Davis said. “This is a great opportunity to help those kids and their families feel comfortable with a university setting and see it as a possibility and interest them in prevention and science.”
Members of UNM’s College of Education, Prevention Research Center and Department of Pediatrics will develop the program. The National Institutes of Health’s Science Education Partnership Award gave the grant to the Health Sciences Center.
The program’s focus on health science is to combat the state’s long-fought battle with diabetes and heart disease, Davis said.
According to the New Mexico Department of Health, diseases of the heart are the leading cause of death in New Mexico, accounting for 20 percent of all deaths in the state in 2009.
“We see a lot of diabetes, we see a lot of heart disease, we see a lot of obesity in New Mexico and rural communities, and the whole idea is we can prevent that,” Davis said. “But if we’re not training people, educating young people from those communities who understand those communities, who have that collective knowledge about those communities, then I think we’re missing a major opportunity for prevention.”
The program, which will begin Aug. 2013, will inform children about nutrition and physical activity through research, as well as science and group projects.
Davis said the program hopes to incorporate a mentorship component, in which UNM students and graduates from similar backgrounds can stop by and assist students.
UNM’s College of Education will begin training middle school teachers on campus in June.
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Associate Dean for Research and Information Management for the College of Education David Scott said the program looks to inspire and attract students to the University at a young age, before they decide what they want their future to entail. He said that although the program can’t overcome poverty issues in New Mexico, it’s a step in the right direction for a better future.
According to an article in the Huffington Post, 21.5 percent of New Mexico’s population lives at or below the poverty line, second only to Mississippi’s 22.6 percent.
“This type of program is a step toward an improvement in education, in career opportunities, and ultimately in economic development,” he said. “Now whether or not this one particular grant will turn the economic future of New Mexico, it’s way too early. This is a step in that direction, not the final answer.”
Scott said that the program not only educates students about a healthier way of living, but encourages a brighter future as well.
“They’re not often thinking about ‘What am I going to do the rest of my life?’ Oftentimes you graduate from high school, it’s ‘What do you want to do now?’” he said. “The idea here is, let’s start at middle school and begin to move them on a pathway through their interest and through the opportunities that they might not normally get, especially in rural, underserved middle schools.”
