The National Association of Resource Conservation and Development Council (NARCDC) recently developed a youth ambassador program.
This program focuses on informing students on agriculture and conservation careers/practices in an innovative way. The local council for NARCDC is the Wiregrass Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D).
Marcelles Martin, a senior foreign policy major, serves an intern for NARCDC because of his passion for making the world a better place to live.
“I’m fascinated in preserving the environment and making sure that everyone has access to sustainable food, clean water and a safe living environment,” Martin said.
Wiregrass RC&D has worked on many projects within the city and Troy University such as funding the university’s STREAM Lab, arboretum outdoor classroom and the IDEA Bank Entrepreneur camp.
Throughout these projects, the council realized an important component was missing. Tiavanni Fuller, who recently graduated from Troy a couple of years ago and is now the student engagement director for NARDC, noticed this and wanted to make a difference.
“As we looked into the needs or our communities, we have recognized the need for youth engagement and development,” Fuller said. “Resource Conservation and Development are connected to a plethora of agriculture and conservation careers, and we noticed a lack of students taking interest in these important positions.”
To increase student engagement NARCDC focuses on projects like networking mixers, career fairs, discussion panels, outreach opportunities, scholarship for college students, curriculum for elementary school students and ambassador/ internship positions. Ambassador and Internship are all paid positions. Students can receive a $1,000 scholarship per semester for being an ambassador and $2,000 monthly for being an intern.
Giavanni Fuller is a freshman multimedia journalism major from Buffalo, New York, serves an intern for NARCDC and feels inspired to be able to fill in the gap.
“With these new revelations, it has inspired me to give others this knowledge, considering that the age gap of farmers is so drastic,” Giavanni Fuller said. “It’s important to educate people our age to keep discovering the opportunities of this industry and to keep researching ways to green our world.
“The work that local RC&D’S do is amazing, and we also wanted to use this program to help with organizational awareness within the communities so that students could get involved,”
Tiavanni Fuller, who was considered a non-traditional student at the time, had no relation or knowledge of agriculture and conservation careers when she brought into the local council her senior year of college as a public relations intern.
“My mind was blown at all that I had been missing out on within my community and resources that were available to students like me, but we were never aware of,” Tiavanni Fuller said. “We use this program to bring students together to educate and uplift them.”
Comments