Deepening rural knowledge through academic experiences

SEE VT is the Summer Enrichment Experience at Virginia Tech. It is an enrichment camp for middle school students who come from rural communities, and we are in our third summer. So this summer, we have 50 rural middle school students from about 14 different school districts across Virginia and into North Carolina. And they are able to see many facets that they might have in their rural community here at Virginia Tech. And so what we want them to know is that the value that they have inside of them, right? Their rural knowledge, has a place at Virginia Tech and also back in their home community. So it's really cool that they're making connections with each other, that they know that there are other people just like them out here in the world, and that they could see themselves also in other people and in friendships and at camp. I find a lot of joy watching the kids find their place here. And a lot of times that looks like them bonding with their counselors, them finding themselves having fun doing lab experiments or having fun being in a creek and discovering crawfish, or I got my choice of being in theater. I think that that excitement really allowed the campers to find their space here and almost a sense of belonging. Because a lot of what we do with our instructors and when we think about SEE VT, we want these students to have authentic learning experiences that allow themselves to be their authentic selves as well. I think the ultimate goal from SEE VT is that they learn that place matters, that rural matters, that they matter. That their home knowledge that they take into the world, that it matters and that it's valued and that they have value. Many of them will become first generation college students. And so we want those students to see that this is an option for them, again, if they can see it, that they can be it. That's the highlight for me—is that they see a new version of themselves where they can be successful and that they don't have to separate that rural identity from seeing themselves at a place like Virginia Tech.