Nervousness didn’t stop Savannah Davis, a junior majoring in environmental studies at N.C. A&T, from presenting her poster recently at the annual conference of the North Carolina Association for Research in Education.
“The best way to overcome any pressures or nervousness in my system is just to go out and do it,’ said Davis, adding that she also practiced a lot.
Davis’ effort paid off. She walked away with one of two prizes at the poster competition in Greensboro, despite being the only undergraduate student in a contest filled with graduate students.
Her research indicated that forestry training workshops could increase the interest, knowledge and competency of high school teachers in the subject, regardless of their years of experience.
It’s a subject close to Davis’ heart. “I really do love forestry and I love the forestry curriculum that I’ve been taught in high school,” said Davis, who grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. “So, it’s really close to my heart to be working on something like this for the high school curriculums in North Carolina.”
Davis, 19, is working on a manuscript for the research and hopes to publish it in an undergraduate journal.
“She’s an amazing student,” said Porché L. Spence, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design. “She perseveres through things. She’s been a wonderful undergraduate research assistant.”
“She really took the lead on doing the research,” said Zakiya H. Leggett, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at N.C. State University. Leggett, Spence and Chantel Simpson Carroll, Ph.D., assistant professor of agriscience education at A&T’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, co-mentored Davis on the project.
“Savannah took a lot of initiatives in learning statistical methods and being able to describe them in ways that we don’t often see at an undergraduate level,” Simpson Carroll said.
Davis has applied for the A&T’s accelerated bachelor’s to master’s degree pathway for environmental studies.
The environmental studies program prepares students to understand and solve real-world challenges where agriculture, natural resources and community sustainability intersect.
“One of the things that we see, especially in K-12, is people don’t recognize how science and agriculture are intrinsically tied,” Simpson Carroll said. “They also don’t recognize that you can get an environmental science degree and go teach in a science class, or that forestry is related to that.”
Spence said Davis’ win is a landmark achievement for the A&T’s environmental studies program and the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at N.C. State. The research is part of a collaborative effort between the two universities funded through a foundational grant from the N.C. Forestry Association.
“Her win is a testament to exceptional caliber of work being produced within the environmental studies program,” Spence said. “A lot of students are really eager to get that hands-on authentic research experience and that scientific identity at an earlier age in their college career.
“Having these experiences and seeing how research is connected to the course curriculum can really tie everything together,” Spence said. “We’re training and preparing these students to be successful when they go into their next phase, whether it be a Ph.D. or out into the workforce,” she said.
