UW-Madison fifth-year student Donale Richards is one of the few students of color who majors in biological systems engineering. He has made it his goal through his involvement in various groups that focus on the use of natural resources to change this and spark interest in incoming students of color of agricultural majors.
He is involved in on-campus efforts to broaden diversity in agricultural fields, which includes serving as is programs officer for the National Society of Black Engineers and being a member of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences. He works to form partnerships between minority groups at UW-Madison and continues to connect his work at school to his work with the PEOPLE Program, a pre-college program that helps and motivates low income, students of color or first-generation high school students to attend college.
Richards is employed by the Soil Science Department and works to get students aware of agricultural opportunities. One of the organizations he works with is the PEOPLE Program.
Richards was assigned to develop a science curriculum for high school students who would be starting their junior in the fall for PEOPLE summer program. His class offered the students hands-on learning experiences and the opportunity to meet professionals in the field. He also assisted two UW-Madison graduate students in instructing the class
The course was Richards’ way of giving back to PEOPLE?he received a scholarship through the program upon graduating high school.
"A lot of these students that we're interacting with don’t have opportunities like this back home,” Richards said. “These students don’t have the opportunities to get more involved in agricultural systems, so for me it was kind of an honor to bridge that gap for them … for me it was giving back to the students, giving them new opportunities, just kind of a new idea of job opportunities out there."
Richards worked with students who were about to begin their senior year in high school during the summer as well. The students in this age group stayed on campus for five weeks and participate in an internship program. This summer, Richards and his supervisors came up with the idea to get the students involved in producing and marketing healthy pizza.
The project leaders worked with volunteers from UW-Madison’s food science department to create an original recipe. They partnered with the Dane County mentor program, Mentoring Positive’s, “Off the Block” brand, which has already marketed their salsa to local stores. They are currently in the process of getting feedback in order to form a nutritional panel about their pizza before selling it. Richards said this project supports the program and the process that the students of the PEOPLE Program go through.
"The overall goal is tied into the other projects that we're doing, which is diversifying the food and agricultural industry,” Richards said. “The pizza project is a guide for what could happen … it reflects the success of what we’re able to do with the limited resources that we have.”
