(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural This story was originally published by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Students Head to Rural Oklahoma for the Summer of Research [1] ['Kristi Eaton', 'The Daily Yonder', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Date: 2024-06-04 Maya Miller is from Huntsville, Alabama, the most populous city in the state. She’s spending the summer of 2024 in rural Oklahoma, however, as part of a program at Oklahoma State University to bring university students from across the country to less populated parts of the state. Miller, who is a sophomore at Tuskegee University studying animal science, is researching the decreasing numbers of rural veterinarians in Greer County, Oklahoma. “We’re trying to find a solution to stop that loss and create an exponential growth of rural veterinarians,” she told the Daily Yonder in a Zoom interview. Miller is one of several students from both Oklahoma and beyond taking part in the Research and Extension Experience for Undergraduates as part of OSU’s Rural Renewal Initiative, now in its fifth year. This is the first year that the program has been opened to any student at any university throughout the country, Linnea Harvey, the coordinator for the Rural Renewal Initiative, said in a Zoom interview. Previously, the summer program was only open to undergraduate and graduate students from OSU. The scholars spend 10 weeks in a rural part of the state researching a particular topic, while living in the community, Harvey said. Other research projects, among others, include reducing out-migration through youth and adult partnerships and uplifting youth in Oklahoma’s historic all-Black towns. Courtney Brown is leading the project on historic all-Black towns. She said the scholar will live and work in Boley, Oklahoma, “Those historically Black towns are all in rural pockets,” Brown, assistant professor of agricultural and leadership and a state extension specialist of agricultural leadership, said in an interview. “I wanted to look at those particular communities because of the historical significance of their presence in the state.” The scholar in Boley will research ag producers in the community to understand their perspectives on life and work in the community and surrounding areas, she said. Shane Robinson, professor of education and co-director of the Rural Renewal Initiative, said the program has had its share of growing pains over the last half-decade. “What I think people were confused by: They thought we were bringing grant money to the communities and we were going to fix up communities, were going to rebuild the dilapidated buildings, we were going to repair broken homes, we were going to bring jobs and sustainability to the community,” he said, adding that instead, the mission of the initiative is to conduct research to identify the problems that exist if they aren’t yet known and help troubleshoot and brainstorm potential ideas to overcome them. Madeline Drake, a junior at Kansas State University studying agricultural communications, will be researching human capital and civic engagement in Sequoyah County in eastern Oklahoma this summer. “We are looking at what the youth need to learn in order to be involved in their communities,” she said in an online interview. “Whether that’s learning more about their local government, or developing certain leadership skills, we’re researching what members of that community think that the youth need.” Hoyt Nebgen, who graduated from OSU with degrees in agricultural leadership and food science, spent two summers as a scholar, living in rural southwestern Oklahoma. He spent the summer of 2021 creating a youth entrepreneurship program. In 2023, he worked on programs involving drought and soil moisture. “For me, personally, I gained a lot of different skills in research,” he said during an interview. “You learn a lot of those technical research skills, both prior to, during and after. And so that’s pretty cool in itself.” Miller, the student from Huntsville, Alabama, said she is a bit nervous about small-town life. “I’m so used to there being a Walmart five minutes away from me that if I forget something, I can go back,” she said. “Whereas there, it’s not so close, and I can’t just turn back around and be at the store again, real quick. I think I’m going to have to organize myself better and organize my thoughts.” Still, she’s excited about the opportunity to network and meet with young kids and educate them about the veterinary profession. “It’s not really about what I hope to gain. I hope other people gain something from what I’m doing,” she said. “I just hope to help leave the community better than when I arrived.” Related Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. 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