Undergraduate Impact on a University’s Recruitment and Retention Initiative

In its seventh year, Kindergarten-to-College (K2C) is one of Virginia’s Tech primary recruitment and retention initiatives to engage children from Title I schools in STEM education. K2C includes professional development for teachers and counselors regarding college and career readiness, direct engagement with children and their parents to inspire a college pathway, and, most importantly, engagement with 200 undergraduates in any given year to serve as the ambassadors and teachers. Undergraduates plan and enact hands-on the STEM activities with participants, and guide and supervise the children during on-campus visits. The undergraduates’ experiences are part of their programs of study related to engagement, research, and coursework. The purpose of this roundtable is to share our program, data, and impact on the university and P-12 settings, and engage participants in a conversation about the development of a nationwide study of the impact of these types of programs on college student recruitment and retention.