THE ROSE PROJECT

History

The ROSE program begins with the story of a young African American Edgewood High School student, Floyd Rose Jr. His father, Dr. Floyd Rose Sr. came to Dr. Amy Schiebel of the Edgewood College Office of Science Outreach, in hopes of finding a way to engage his son in scientific research opportunities. These opportunities began by pairing Floyd Jr. with an Edgewood Professor and working on science projects. Floyd Jr. went on to work with faculty at the UW-Madison Biomedical department. He greatly benefited from these engagement opportunities - he went on to be accepted to Notre Dame, from which he graduated as the first African American with a degree in Physics. Upon seeing Floyd Jr.’s success, Dr. Rose and Dr. Schiebel worked to develop a program that would direct its focus on parents, helping them to find resources and opportunities for their children in STEM fields while simultaneously teaching parents more about science concepts and providing an engaging and positive experience in science.

Goals

• Increase the capacity for parents to mentor and encourage their children in the areas of science, engineering, and technology.
• Provide parents with avenues to obtain positive experiences in science.
• Increase parent knowledge in science.
• Bring parents and their children to the Sonderegger Science Center on the Edgewood College campus to gain familiarity and comfort with the college science environment.

Classic ROSE

With our Classic ROSE model, we form a partnership between the Office of Science Outreach and an organization, usually an elementary school or a neighborhood center. We organize one event per site and per semester, and we typically go to the institution during the first semester and then invite the institution to come to the Edgewood College campus during the second semester. Events include dinner as a large group and then the parents go to one room and children go to another, with both groups participating in unique science lessons and activities.

ROSE Community STEM Fellows

The Community STEM Fellows Program piloted in the winter of 2019 as a way to engage local parents of color who wanted to increase their engagement with science and develop as science leaders in their communities. Teams were made up of three to four “Fellows” who represent a combination of staff and parents at various schools and community centers. Our four initial partners were Lincoln Elementary, Leopold Elementary, Vera Court Neighborhood Center and Bridge Lake Point Waunona (BLW) Neighborhood Center. Fellows came to campus once per month for a community dinner followed by science and leadership training. As a final project, each team put on a science event at their home institution in the spring. Even amidst the pandemic and the necessary development of a virtual Fellows program, we have consistently added to the total number of individual Fellows participating each year. This fall, we are looking forward to being back in the classroom, (safely) engaging with science and developing as leaders in service of our local communities!