by Kathryn Voorneveld
Before starting at Florida State University, Stevenson Guerrier dealt with hardships and barriers that could have stopped him from coming to college. With the death of his father, Stevenson was effectively homeless and took over the responsibility of looking after his younger brother. Nonetheless, he was accepted at Florida State, as well as the CARE program. Despite some initial struggles, Guerrier refocused after beginning college and became active and involved on campus.
Here at Florida State, the CARE program is designed to help students like Guerrier successfully transition into college and do well throughout their educational journey. But how exactly might a program like this specifically help students studying technology? This was among the questions I had in mind as I reached out to Tatiana Loayza, a coordinator within the CARE Tutoring and Computer Lab.
CARE, or the Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement, was developed in 1968 to help first-generation college students throughout their transitions into college and the entirety of their college careers. Students enrolled in the CARE program, according to Associate Director Justina Jones, are “among the first in their family to attend college and may face unique challenges in college because of educational or economic circumstances.” With this is mind, CARE includes a variety of programs to provide the unique support these first-generation college students may need, including the SSS-STEM Program.
SSS-STEM, otherwise known as the Student Support Services-STEM Program, was “designed to improve retention, graduation, financial literacy, and overall academic success rates for students majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math fields” (CARE 8). CARE provides participants in the SSS-STEM program access to tablets and the CARE Computer Lab, as well as Tech Workshops and tours. SSS-STEM Program Coordinator Roxanne Simpson says the CARE Program’s facilities and services like these “increase the students’ exposure to required technical skills and post-graduation career opportunities, thereby improving the students’ probability of acquiring a desirable career.”
Though the T in STEM stands for Technology, media and film majors are not usually included in STEM-specific services.
Roxanne Simpson focuses less on potential setbacks these first-generation students may face and more on what CARE staff can do to help them succeed. Specifically, when it comes to first-generation media production or technology students, Simpson prefers to answer the following question: “How do we prevent students from choosing an academic pathway incongruent with their interests?”
This question becomes particularly important when we consider media technology, which is often not included in STEM-specific programs such as this. Though SSS-STEM is a wonderful resource on FSU’s campus, the program is federally funded by the United States Department of Education and only available to students in specified STEM majors, ranging from applied mathematics to information technology. If the Department of Education does not recognize media technology as an important facet of our everyday lives how can universities and departments help bridge the digital divide?
Especially in recent years, the idea of adopting the STEAM principle, with “A” standing for Arts, has become more and more popular. But why STEAM? According to Rhode Island School of Design’s STEM to STEAM initiative, STEAM strives to “foster the true innovation that comes with combining the mind of a scientist or technologist with that of an artist or designer.”
Additionally, if STEAM programs were to be implemented on college campuses, first-generation students looking to study film or media technology would have a better chance of receiving the major-specific help they may need. While initiatives like STEM to STEAM are gaining ground, until funding agencies like the Department of Education designate Art as an important field for investment, Media and Film departments may need to build programs like SSS-STEM specifically for their first generation and lower income students.
Kathryn Voorneveld is a freshman currently majoring in Information Communication & Technology at Florida State University. Next year she hopes to be admitted into the Media/Communication Studies major. She has recently become invested in learning about and openly discussing the social inequalities that are evident in our world and hopes that through her generation’s education on perpetuating inequalities, they are able to make our world a more inclusive, more equal place for generations to come. Her work with EDIT Media is supported by The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program at Florida State and her mentor, Assistant Professor Malia Bruker.
