{"id":28230,"date":"2021-06-04T16:25:54","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T20:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=28230"},"modified":"2024-08-15T12:16:19","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T16:16:19","slug":"strong-program-shrinks-university-offers-stem-students-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/strong-program-shrinks-university-offers-stem-students-success\/","title":{"rendered":"STRONG Program Shrinks University, Offers STEM Students Success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Anael Ais<\/p><\/div>\n

The University of Central Florida carries a reputation for its size, but Anael Ais didn\u2019t fully realize how big the university truly is until he transferred from Valencia College.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big adjustment because UCF is such a big school and it\u2019s hard to navigate that alone,\u201d said Ais.<\/p>\n

The university began to shrink, however, when Ais enrolled in the STRONG Program, which offers both scholarships and a faculty mentor. The former helped him pay down some student debt, while the latter offered a personal connection to his department and career advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve shared with him a lot of the experiences I had and demonstrating some of my vulnerabilities and sensitivities have allowed us to have open dialogue with one another,\u201d said mentor Statistics Associate Instructor Daniel Inghram. \u201c<\/p>\n

The STRONG Program (an acronym for STEM TRansfers\u2019 Opportunities for Nurtured Growth) offers scholarships in the range of $2,000-$8,000 for first-year transfer students in science, technology, engineering, statistics, and mathematics (STEM) fields, through a project funded by the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n

For Ais, the scholarship relieved some of the financial pressure and made it easier to take care of family. Both Inghram and Ais describe the STRONG program as family oriented.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have community all around. You have a lot of professors who are willing to help you with resumes and recommendations,\u201d said Ais, who found a job doing computer science with the support of his mentor.<\/p>\n

The STRONG program<\/a> was developed in 2018 at UCF to recruit and attract students into STEM fields and provide support for transfer students who demonstrate financial need and academic talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of those who were new to UCF this year, claim that STRONG provided an instant community for them at a time when meeting classmates through online learning environments was extremely difficult,\u201d said Brian Moore, head coordinator of the STRONG Program.<\/p>\n

Although applications for the Fall semester are currently closed, the STRONG Program are willing to accept applicants provided they meet the requirements.<\/p>\n

Both Ingram and Ais hope to see more students apply as they feel it\u2019s important to support transfer students from community colleges coming to UCF.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Central Florida carries a reputation for its size, but Anael Ais didn\u2019t fully realize how big the university truly is until he transferred from Valencia College. \u201cIt\u2019s a big adjustment because UCF is such a big school and it\u2019s hard to navigate that alone,\u201d said Ais. The university began to shrink, however, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":28231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[38,13,5967,6491,28,29],"tags":[6314],"class_list":["post-28230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-news","category-notables","category-statistics-data-science","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","tag-daniel-inghram"],"yoast_head":"\nSTRONG Program Shrinks University, Offers STEM Students Success - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/strong-program-shrinks-university-offers-stem-students-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"STRONG Program Shrinks University, Offers STEM Students Success - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The University of Central Florida carries a reputation for its size, but Anael Ais didn\u2019t fully realize how big the university truly is until he transferred from Valencia College. \u201cIt\u2019s a big adjustment because UCF is such a big school and it\u2019s hard to navigate that alone,\u201d said Ais. 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