EnvironMentors is a national college-access program, housed within the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE). AggieMentors is the local chapter of the mentoring program, established in 2009 as one of the first West Coast participants. The UC Davis chapter is now one of 13 chapters in the Nation.

EnvironMentors started out in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and expanded its program in the year 2011 to the College of Engineering to address the need for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education

Mission

UC Davis chapter of EnvironMentors primary goal is to nurture and enhance opportunities in Environmental Sciences, Resource Management and STEM to underrepresented high school students. Through this aim, EnvironMentors seeks to prepare socio-economically challenged youth for university degree programs.

A Unique Approach to Education

One of the unique attributes of the UC Davis chapter is its multi-faceted emphasis on different education levels: graduate, undergraduate and high school students. Over the course of the 9- month program, graduate and undergraduate students guide underrepresented high school students through hands-on research projects. The projects vary in scope and are tailored to the graduate student’s own research area of expertise. Research is performed at UC Davis campus.

The goal of the program is to provide access to secondary education for rural as well as urban underrepresented high school youth from the greater Sacramento region. The high school students will be engaged in field trips, immersion in a rigorous environmental and STEM science project, and a scientific research methods workshop series culminating in the participation of the competitive EnvironMentors Fair to be held on the UC Davis campus each April. The winning candidates of our local EnvironMentors Fair, selected by volunteering independent professionals and faculty, will advance to the national EnvironMentors Fair in Washington DC to compete for college scholarships and monetary prizes.

Download the Program Brochure.