OPSU Planning for Panhandle Protégés

Panhandle Protégés is a two-week, residential academy hosted by OPSU. Protégés will engage in a lively series of activities intermixed with faculty interactions representing a diversity of backgrounds/perspectives, fields of study, and career paths. Hands-on activities range from trust-and-confidence-building exercises to a math lab escape room experience to a marine zoology touch tank and many related fun experiments.

An integral part of the academy experience consists of a daily series of brief discussions with participants by OPSU faculty, staff, and undergraduates. If you will be on campus or in a nearby town, etc., at any time between July 11-23, 2021, please consider sharing 15 minutes of your time with the academy participants regarding your college experience, whatever that entails. Those with first-generation college experience are especially needed. Please contact Laura Franks (laura.franks@opsu.edu) or David Ferrell (david.ferrell@opsu.edu) if you can contribute in any way.

Laura Franks, Department Chair of Math commented, “This camp is going to show students that going to college and pursuing a degree in STEM is a real possibility and it can be very exciting. We have several hands-on activities planned that demonstrate real life applications to math and science. It’s going to be fun!”

Dr. David Ferrell, Assistant Professor of Biology stated, “Laura and I are very excited to be hosting OPSU’s first Summer Academy of this variety. We’re both eager to bring our creativity and enthusiasm for Math and Biology, as well as a shared passion for motivating Oklahoma’s high schoolers to consider college as a realistic near-future goal.”