June 2023 marked the end of the second consecutive year of our Youth Veterinarian Initiative (YVI) and the end of the first year of our YVI Book Club & Merit Badge Program.
See below for a summary of the results we have achieved.
2021-2022:
YVI Podcast and “Careers in Veterinary Medicine” Curriculum
During the first year of the program, we hosted twenty-eight (28) podcast episodes featuring veterinarians and others who work with animals in the U.S. and abroad. Sixty-plus (60+) youth attended the calls live, and we made the recordings available at no charge for youth and educators across the country.
The podcast inspired Danielle Corbin, a 6th-grade science teacher at the South Bronx Early College Academy (SBECA) in Bronx, NY, to create a curriculum called “Careers in Veterinary Medicine.” Ms. Corbin taught the curriculum to 25 students during Spring Semester 2022, and two of her students interviewed podcast speakers.
The podcast also inspired Bailey Brown, who was a 6th-grade student in Houston, TX at the time, to achieve perfect attendance during the first two months of the program in 2021 and volunteer at her local animal shelter to prepare herself for her future application to veterinary school. She continues to volunteer there today.
Bailey Brown – All A’s student and animal shelter volunteer
SBECA students worked with microscopes during the semester and earned the first merit badges that we awarded during the program.
This, in addition to our donation of books to SBECA in December 2021, inspired us to launch the YVI Book Club & Merit Badge program the following year.
First YVI Merit Badges
During the summer of 2022, in collaboration with Danielle Corbin and Dr. Tori Ellis of the Mindfulness and STEAM Lab, WIF provided owl pellet dissection and gelatin frog dissection labs to HYPE Freedom School in Houston, TX.
Read HYPE’s testimonial about this experience HERE.
2022-2023:
YVI Book Club & Merit Badge Program
WIF launched the YVI Book Club & Merit Badge Program while continuing to offer the YVI podcast series (36 episodes recorded as of June 2023). One hundred and forty-two (142) students from middle schools in Bronx, NY; Newark, NJ; Chicago, IL; and Houston, TX read eight (8) life-science-themed books and joined monthly Zoom calls to discuss their readings.
Students earned a total of 400 merit badges for completing homework assignments, drawing their favorite characters/personas in the books, and attending monthly Zoom calls and YVI podcasts.
Additionally, two students received letters of achievement for interviewing podcast speakers.
YVI Merit Badges
Fifth-grade students at Etoile Academy (Houston, TX) and 8th-grade students at Holy Family (Chicago, IL) earned a special merit badge for reading books aloud to younger students or classmates.
Holy Family students’ read-aloud
Educators reported that participating students increased their literacy skills and/or knowledge of life sciences by one to two levels.
All Etoile Academy (Houston, TX) 5th graders who participated in the book club passed the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam. Six of them achieved Meets and Masters status, which is one of the highest distinctions for the exam.
Program facilitator Kristen Ray said, “I know reading these books and talking about the questions have been a huge help to their academic success.”
Etoile Academy 5th-grade book club participants
The entire 6th grade class at South Bronx Early College Academy (SBECA) in Bronx, NY participated in the book club. Facilitator Danielle Corbin reported that students spent 20 minutes each Wednesday reading book club titles at school from September to June. This amounted to 14.3 hours per student or over 1,360 total hours over the course of the year.
South Bronx Early College Academy 6th-grade book club reading session
Unexpected Results
SBECA’s Danielle Corbin reported an unexpected, yet powerful benefit that her school experienced because of its participation in the book club – teachers across disciplines were so inspired by the life sciences books that they sought ways to include them in math, social studies, and ELA classes.
Significantly, students and teachers also found themselves discussing the books in the hallways!
Click on the image below to listen to Ms. Corbin describe this phenomenon in her own words (1:05-minute recording).
Another unexpected result of the program was the visit that YVI Podcast speaker Dr. Heather Fowler paid to the 7th graders at Marion P. Thomas Charter School (MPTCS) STEAM Academy in Newark, NJ. Students commented on how they loved Dr. Fowler’s story of pursuing veterinary medicine as a career and the work she currently does as Director of Producer and Public Health at the National Pork Board.
Dr. Heather Fowler at MPTCS STEAM Academy
Dr. Fowler said the following about her visit:
… I shared information about my background, current work in the swine industry, and fielded questions from the students. I greatly enjoy these events which give me the opportunity to give back to my community here in the great state of New Jersey.
I am a living breathing example that young black women from New Jersey can achieve their wildest dreams. I hope the students I visited with this spring were inspired by my visit and know they too can achieve such heights.
Ms. Lisa Finn-Bruce, MPTCS’ YVI facilitator, was equally inspired by Dr. Fowler’s meeting with the students. She told us how vested they are in the program:
I’m really hoping that some of the scholars who participated this year will be able to participate again. They have really given their all!
YVI is now preparing for Year 3 of this successful program!
