Impact
The Montana Summer Program has impacted the lives of many Clemson students over the years. In addition to the personal blog posts students have provided showing how their thinking has changed during experiences in the course, we conduct pre- and post-course surveys of students.
These survey results were recently analyzed and published in a peer-reviewed journal, highlighting the uniqueness of the program and impact it has had on students that have taken part. Below are some of the key findings from the paper.
Increasing Awareness and Multidisciplinary Sensitivity
We found that students simultaneously became more aware of the unique natural history and biodiversity of the Great Plains, while also increasing student awareness and support for management of public lands to benefit private landowners and local communities. This is key in an increasingly polarized world of conservation organizations pitted against agricultural production. Students are learning to be sensitive to the needs of local communities.
This goes beyond just acceptance of agricultural production. Students increasingly saw the importance of private landowners as knowledgeable and valuable stewards of the land following our course. As one student said "The goals of ranchers ultimately relate back to sustainability of the land and even more, many ranchers are tied to their prairie land and feel connected to it along with any wildlife that may inhabit it."
Embracing Complexity and Multidisciplinary Thinking
Students repeatedly wrote about the complexity of working lands conservation after engaging with many different stakeholders in the course. Students were made to walk in the footsteps of so many different aspects of working lands, ranging from the ranching family to the feed lot owner, and from the local state biologist to the state senator charged with shaping wildlife management policy. This forced to student to gain an appreciation for thinking across disciplines that will carry them far in their future careers. As one student said "Through this I was able to ask new questions and view conservation from a perspective I had never thought of before; this knowledge has not only rounded me as a person but also as a future wildlife biologist."
Communication
Following this course, student became more comfortable discussing controversial issues with private agricultural producers, government agency employees and the general public. Students also became more willing to travel, work independently, and take a leading role in peer groups as a result of the course.
More information can be found in the paper:
Jachowski, D.S., M.J. Aguerre, G. Lascano, K. Titus, and T. Scott. 2022. Using multidisciplinary, conflict-based experiential learning to train students on how to address controversy at the public-private land interface. North American College Teachers of Agriculture Journal. 66:37-45.
