PANDEMIC SPURS CHANGE AND GROWTH IN SSTRIDE PROGRAMS
The COVID pandemic reinforced the need for flexibility in the College of Medicine ’ s efforts to educate students who represent Florida ’ s rich diversity .
Jodi Truel , the southern region director for SSTRIDE ( Science Students Together Reaching Instructional Diversity and Excellence ), has embraced technology ’ s role in expanding the program ’ s reach in Collier and Sarasota counties .
“ Before , when we had a guest speaker , they ’ d come to the classroom and speak with 15 or 20 students ,” Truel said . “ Now , with Zoom , we can invite them to be a guest speaker … so they can be on a call with 200 students .”
The virtual meetings brought in a biological anthropologist from Canada , enabled small-group mentoring and tutoring for middle and high schoolers , and even allowed for students to participate in engaging activities such as dissections .
“ It ’ s made us think outside the box and learn how to use technology to our advantage ,” Truel said . “ We ’ ve not only morphed our programming because of COVID , we ’ ve literally started a new program .”
The pre-med mentoring and academic enrichment program at Booker High School – with the highest percentage of Black and Hispanic students in Sarasota County – meets virtually , twice a week . College of Medicine Bridge to Clinical Medicine master ’ s program students serve as facilitators and USSTRIDE students as mentors and tutors .
At Immokalee High , SSTRIDE ’ s pre-med mentoring and tutoring program puts College of Medicine Honors Medical Scholars from Tallahassee in front of 3-5 students at a time in small-group mentoring via Zoom after school .
The programs have been funded through five-year gifts of $ 500,000 from both the Naples Children and Education Foundation ( NCEF ) in Collier County and the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation in Sarasota County .
SSTRIDE ’ s mission – to identify students with an interest in pursuing careers in science , engineering , mathematics , health and medicine and provide support services for them to develop the tools necessary for success in their chosen fields – continues to succeed .
Since SSTRIDE began in 1994 , 97 percent of the participants tracked have gone on to attend college , with 64 percent enrolled in science , engineering , mathematics or health majors – an 8 % increase over five years .
SSTRIDE students who enroll in college are graduating at a rate of 78 percent , and 36 percent of those graduates have attended graduate school . That includes 17 who went on to medical school , 11 at FSU ’ s College of Medicine .
48 Pipeline Programs | 2022 Annual Report | Florida State University College of Medicine | 500 / 1,000