By: Gigi Kraemer
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) — Donors from five different states came together to raise over $6,800 to help the University of Arkansas’ Department of Entomology put the finishing touch on its mobile entomology classroom.
Austin Jones, Ph.D., ENPL Instructor, Director of Undergraduate Education, and Outreach Coordinator has been working on the entomology roadshow for the past three years. The classroom is housed in a 16-foot, fully accessible trailer.
Jones was able to fully outfit the inside of the trailer with educational models and specimens from allocated start-up funds and resources from the department. After that, he said the only thing left to do was “make it look cool”.
Jones hoped to accomplish this by fundraising for a vinyl wrap for the outside of the trailer, The goal of the wrap is to create visual appeal so members of communities have a chance to connect with university based programs and faculty members.
The outreach program is focused on connecting rural Arkansans with information about local insect life that would be helpful, but is housed at the university here in Fayetteville.
“We happen to be geographically isolated in the corner of Arkansas and most of the folks that need our information are not here,” Jones said.
With the mobile classroom, he will be able to travel to parts of the state that he would not have been able to before. He hopes to be able to visit all 75 counties in Arkansas through this project.
According to Jones, “That’s really what extension is all about, it’s about taking what we learn in academic endeavors and translating that into something that can help the people in our state.”
The installation of the new wrap is scheduled for the week of September 9, and the fully wrapped trailer will be on display for the first time at the Historic Cane Hill Harvest Festival on September 21.