Home » News » 2024 McKinney Scholars reflect on eight-week program

2024 McKinney Scholars reflect on eight-week program

sydney shepherd and zairen jackson; two young women sit at round conference table, smiling at camera

2024 McKinney Scholars reflect on eight-week program

July 28, 2024

This year, the Marvin H. McKinney Scholars Program in Research, Practice, and Policy at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) welcomed two stellar students―Zairen Jackson (pictured above, right) from Bennett College and Sydney Shepherd (pictured above, left) from North Carolina A&T State University.

The program, which honors Marvin H. McKinney, PhD, a former postdoctoral fellow at FPG, and longtime educator and collaborator, was established to offer hands-on research experience in child development to undergraduate students from North Carolina's historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

The paid internship offers students the chance to engage in significant project-related work that aligns with their career goals and professional interests. The scholars are supported by mentors and program staff who demonstrate FPG’s impact on improving the lives of young children and their families through research and evaluation, implementation, and technical assistance. The aim is to deepen the scholars' comprehension of the significance of research, practice, and policy, as well as the interconnections and pathways between each of these areas of work.

All participants in this year's program were especially excited to take part since it marked the first time welcoming the students in-person.

Just before the 2024 summer program wrapped up, Jackson and Shepherd took time to reflect on their experiences over the last eight weeks. Here’s what they had to say.

On what drew them to the McKinney Scholars Program

Jackson admits that it took some encouragement from her professor—upon hearing that only two students would be selected, she wasn’t entirely sure she should go for it at first. “I was like, should I do it? Should I go for it?,” says Jackson. “But I definitely went for it because I thought of the research benefits … being able to participate in research was something I was really looking forward to with this program.” She was also drawn to the learning experience as a whole—"the opportunities, education, the different avenues that I could explore. That's what drew me to this program,” says Jackson.

Like Jackson, Shepherd was intrigued by the research opportunity—but the policy-related work also was appealing. “As soon as I saw [the program involved] learning about research and policy, I knew that was immediately something I was interested in,” says Shepherd. “I’ve grown up with my mom being in education, and she served as a principal, assistant principal, and literacy coach. And I knew that I've always loved to be in the classroom. But there's more avenues outside of the classroom to explore. When I saw that there was an opportunity to learn about how I could potentially be in those roles, I was like, this is something that I need to apply for and see where it takes me.”

On what they’re taking away from the program and how this experience will impact their future career path and goals

After completing the internship program, Jackson says that she is more confident and optimistic about going into the field of education, which previously she wasn’t as encouraged by due to a variety of issues such as teacher shortages. But this experience made quite an impression. “I didn't have much exposure to research, understanding how that can relate to [the field of] education,” says Jackson. She shared that there’s a big difference between reading about something and being part of the action, saying “I never really knew research would be something I could pursue in the future.” And now, she’s excited to see how she can make an impact in the field after having explored many ways that research and implementation can change lives.

Shepherd was also impressed by the many ways to affect change through research, implementation, and technical assistance.  “I feel like there are so many more avenues to [the field] of education that people don't really know about,” says Shepherd. “Since I've been here, I've learned that there’s a lot behind the scenes that goes on and a lot of systems that, as a student, you don't really think about in the classroom.”  

Both scholars listed their coding experience during their first rotation, which was with the EMERGE team, as a highlight. In addition, they both shared that learning about and completing a positionality sketch was a valuable experience. Jackson said that this was something entirely new to her, but that she could quickly see how important it was to start out with that exercise. “Looking at how you’ve been raised, what your experiences are, and how they impact the way you can view a situation—analyzing your biases and anything like that, was definitely really important for us,” said Jackson. Shepherd agreed, sharing that being able to complete the sketch, “allowed us to understand our own biases and our own interpretations of things based on how we were raised, how we view things and how it will impact our future research, and how we, in turn, will interpret that research.”

Additionally, Shepherd appreciated the time spent with mentors and project teams at FPG. “I just really value [learning] from people's experiences, understanding how they got to the position that they're in,” says Shepherd. “I've come to realize that a lot of people have come from very different backgrounds, and that's something that's very valuable to me.”

On what research questions they would like to answer in the future

The research question that Jackson would like to explore in the future relates to the intersection between home and school environments and how that might impact a young person’s development and education. “For example,” says Jackson, “if the child is a primary caretaker of their siblings, just understanding how their home life affects their school life and vice versa, and how to help them, possibly through different programs, just to make that balance easier and make sure that education is the number one goal and priority for every child, and that every child is successful.”

Shepherd wants to focus on inclusion in special education classrooms. “I want to explore classroom dynamics,” says Shepherd. “And what I mean by that is understanding least restrictive and most restrictive learning environments and how they impact minority students with diverse learning needs.” Shepherd says this question started to blossom in her mind when she was working with the EMERGE team and they learned about the demographic difference in autism, rates and diagnosis, and how Black learners were not getting the same level of treatment.

On what prospective McKinney scholars should know about this program

“I would definitely say you might think your mind is made up—and that you know exactly what you want to do. But then you'll get here and be exposed to so much. Like me, I know I want to be a classroom teacher, but now there's so many avenues that I hope I can explore along my path,” says Jackson.

“And I would say to not come in thinking that you need to be an expert in what you'll be learning,” says Shepherd, “because I feel like a lot of the conversations that I've had with my mentors [revealed] that they're constantly learning … don't have that kind of pressure on yourself to think that you need to know everything and have an idea about what you want to do when you go into this field.”  Agreeing, Jackson shared, “You're prepared the way you are. You'll just learn so much more!”