Our group seeks to explore the nature of career development in children and demonstrate the importance of career exploration from a young age, especially in a globalized society. Around the world, studies have shown that children’s career aspirations are influenced by a wide range of factors, including gender stereotypes, socioeconomic status, parents’ and role models’ professions, and community. Through art and storytelling, our group will create a children’s book aimed at children in 4th to 6th grade, the age group in which career exploration tends to become most salient. The book will present many careers and paths to attaining these careers. These career descriptions will be based on interviews with professionals in a variety of occupations. By combining artistry, personal communication, career development, and global perspectives, the storybook product will seek to reduce restrictive career stereotypes that feed gender and class inequalities.

Globally, a staggering 91% of plastics are not recycled. The intrinsic motivators and mainstream incentives for recycling have proven to be ineffective at motivating large parts of the global population to recycle. Instead these items, including plastics and paper goods, end up in landfills or in the oceans. However, the profusion of technology across the globe brings new avenues for pursuing recycling incentives. Leveraging the framework of technology that walks around in the pockets of university students all around the world, our group created a mobile application that offers local incentives for recycling on college campuses. Implemented at both the University of Montana and Massey University Albany Campus in Auckland, New Zealand, our mobile application, TreasureBin, allows users to earn points for recycling items. Those points are redeemable for discounts on goods and services at local vendors. Through a technological approach to recycling incentives, we are able to collect clear data, while simultaneously reaching a dense population. TreasureBin confirms that global challenges can be addressed more readily with the profusion of technology. This project affirms that stagnation in the struggle against climate challenges can be combated with innovative, technological approaches.

Access to clean water is a problem the world will continue to face in the future. Droughts, climate change, and contamination are just a few examples of water-related issues humans deal with daily. By addressing these problems through education, we targeted future adults by fostering positive environmental attitudes. To celebrate World Water Day on March 22nd, we held a Water Field Day for sixth graders in Lolo, Montana to supplement their science curriculum. Through hands-on activities, our target population was immersed in water issues related to water contamination and conservation. Our Water Field Day comprised multiple stations with activities including an art and poetry wall, a water contaminants scavenger hunt, a filtration station, water taste test, and a water relay race. These activities represent challenges faced by people of all ages around the world as well as here in Montana. Increasing demand on water resources combined with the complexities of climate change brings a strengthened sense of urgency to spread awareness of future water states and methods for accessing clean water supplies. Educating youth about water conservation, contamination, and filtration will help them make responsible and informed decisions throughout their lives regarding water uses, or themselves and people in other regions. Making explicit references to the water problems people face in other countries fosters empathy and encourages consideration of the water issues in a global context as well. Learning about water through hands-on activities connects children with the material so it is enjoyable to learn and easier to remember, while simultaneously providing a positive experience with natural systems, which has been shown to increase concern about the environment. Our Water Field Day incorporated all these elements to effectively communicate global water issues with our future leaders.

Chasing Plenty: A Documentary on Food Security in Montana Our GLI group aims to examine the following question: how will climate change impact food security? To address this question we are conducting interviews in Montana. Despite being an agricultural state, many Montanans struggle with food insecurity, and are left without plentiful or healthy options for food. We aim to research this issue by interviewing local community members involved in food distribution. The interview data will be compiled in a short documentary discussing current issues in food security, how these problems are likely to evolve in the future, and propose solutions to the issues facing Montanans and the global community. We will examine issues such as poverty, stigma, distribution, and climate change as problems impacting food security. Data on the state of food security in Montana is sparse. To supplement existing data we use geographic information systems to provide more detailed information on the status of food security in Montana. We aggregate our data and research into an additional, more academic report detailing the specifics of our work. However, we chose film as our primary medium in order to reach a broader audience of people. Our ultimate goal is to ignite interest in this topic and get more individuals involved. We aim to bring together a community of people dedicated to addressing food security, and create meaningful change.

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES SURVEY

Mental health is an issue worldwide and a cohort of the mentally ill is found within universities. Our group has perceives that the University of Montana could benefit from a system that aligns the needs of the students and the mental health workers. This can be done if Curry Health Center is aware of the students’ needs and the best ways they can use limited resources.

This need inspired us to use student input and critique to better understand how students are using the mental health services that are provided, and which services they may not be aware of. We want to gather information on what additional resources students would like access to and reasons students may decide to use or not use available resources. We plan to create a survey to harvest quantitative and qualitative data. By reaching out to students through a survey platform, we are able to obtain a clearer, wider range of responses that will allow us an understanding of our students’ needs and direct services in a way that would benefit them the most effectively. Students will be made aware of this survey opportunity in lecture halls, emails and via their different student groups and clubs on campus.

We intend for this data to help establish what is needed by the students and aid in focus of the mental health resources at the University of Montana. This process will be capable of being repeated at other universities throughout the world. In addition, if students have access to mental health data, they can more effectively lobby for support of needed services. By bringing students, representatives, and university faculty together, we can gather data and opinion that can be used to effectively destigmatize mental health and serve the community on a larger scale.

Children are growing up in a globalizing world and must be prepared to compete in a global job market. Modern technology and software are linking the world together and providing career opportunities for people in developing countries that were once only available in developed nations. At this point, software is used to aid professionals in every career. Students who wish to be successful in the globalizing world will need to utilize and manipulate software more effectively than their global competitors. The goal of our Franke Global Leadership Initiative team is to address the importance of computing skills by providing coding fundamentals to elementary students. We achieved this goal by visiting elementary schools and providing coding games to students from the ages of 7 to 10. The students gained an understanding by building code structures through various game scenarios. We hope to help inspire a generation of young coders.

Unlike other curriculums, sex education is widely varied in the methods of teaching, what age an individual receives this education, and what specifically is taught. This problem is universal, as often times, too many sensitivities concerning the effect it will have on a student’s character influence the outcome of sex education. Because of this, students and adults go through life with an inadequate understanding of their own sexual health. Ignorance about sexual health leads to unwanted pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, as well us an unfortunate confusion about one’s own body and the bodies of others. The curriculum of other subjects has evolved to cater towards better learning strategies and a more engaging strategy of presenting material, but sex education has remained static because of social, religious, and other controversial factors.