Focus on the Future

Seven undergraduates successfully completed a USDA-funded program designed to give leadership skills to Hispanic students planning to work in the agriculture industry.

The students spoke about their experience in the Focus on the Future program during a December completion ceremony, touting the value of learning multiple disciplines as a cohort and having professional mentors who contributed to their academic success and provided career advice.

They also worked in a “flipped classroom environment,” a new and effective teaching technique where the students learned the lecture material online at home and used the classroom time to interact with the instructor and work in groups to figure out how to solve problems.

Focus on the Future is funded through a three-year, $289,000 Hispanic-Serving Institution Education Grant through the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The students were the third cohort to complete the program successfully. Since the program’s inception in 2011, 26 students have completed it. The goal is to train 40 students.