Faculty Peer Mentoring Experience for Marine and Environmental Science Programs

Course Description

Faculty Peer Mentoring Experience for Marine and Environmental Science Programs has students form a cohort and be introduced to the Environmental Science Technology A.S. degree and specializations. Students enter into and participate in a mentoring relationship where the mentor will advise students regarding their pathway through the EST A.S. degree program.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, SLS is the Student Life Skills prefix. Daytona State publishes this at 0 credit hours, offered fall. ⚠ The catalog publishes no contact-hour figure — see the note below on what a zero-credit course is and is not.

Cohort-and-mentor courses like this exist because of a well-established finding: students who form relationships with faculty and with each other early are substantially more likely to finish. It sounds soft and it is not — the attrition in technical A.S. programmes is concentrated in the first year, and it is more often about isolation and unclear pathways than about academic difficulty. The most valuable thing this course produces is a named person to ask and a group of people going the same way.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe the Environmental Science Technology A.S. degree and its structure.
• Describe the specializations available within the degree and how they differ.
• Identify the courses required for your chosen pathway and their sequence.
• Identify prerequisites and the terms in which required courses are offered.
• Build a term-by-term plan through to completion.
• Describe how course sequencing and offering frequency constrain that plan.
• Establish a working relationship with a faculty mentor.
• Prepare for and make effective use of a mentoring meeting.
• Ask productive questions about programme and career decisions.
• Describe the role of a cohort and participate in one.
• Identify the employment and transfer destinations the degree serves.
• Describe the work environmental science technicians actually do.
• Describe Florida's environmental and marine science employment sector.
• Identify the certifications and field skills valued in the sector.
• Locate and use campus academic support services.
• Describe field and laboratory safety expectations at an introductory level.
• Describe professional conduct expectations in field settings.
• Identify internship, volunteer, and field experience opportunities.
• Describe transfer options to related bachelor's programmes.
• Reflect on your own goals and how the programme serves them.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe research opportunities available to students.
• Describe professional and student organisations in the field.
• Participate in a field activity or site visit.
• Describe scientific communication at an introductory level.
• Begin building a portfolio of field and laboratory experience.
• Describe graduate pathways in marine and environmental science.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• The EST A.S. degree and its structure
• Specializations and their differences
• Required courses and sequence
• Prerequisites and offering frequency
• Building a completion plan
• Sequencing constraints
• The faculty mentoring relationship
• Making use of a mentoring meeting
• Asking productive questions
• Cohort participation
• Employment and transfer destinations
• What technicians actually do
• Florida's environmental and marine sector
• Valued certifications and field skills
• Campus support services
• Introductory field and laboratory safety
• Professional conduct in the field
• Internships and field experience
• Transfer to bachelor's programmes
• Goal reflection

Optional Topics

• Student research opportunities
• Professional and student organisations
• Field activity or site visit
• Scientific communication
• Portfolio building
• Graduate pathways

Resources & Tools

• Your academic advisor — free, and the most under-used resource in higher education. An hour with an advisor before registration saves more time and money than anything else on this list.
• FloridaShines (floridashines.org) — free; the statewide portal for transfer planning, common prerequisites, and the 2+2 pathway between Florida public institutions.
• Florida Department of Education — Statewide Course Numbering System — free; the authority on what transfers and what a course number means.
• Daytona State's student services — tutoring, the writing centre, library instruction, disability services, and counselling, all included in what you already pay.
• O*NET OnLine (onetonline.org) — free; occupation profiles, required skills, and wage data.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook (bls.gov/ooh) — free and authoritative on pay, entry requirements, and projected demand.
• CareerSource Florida and FloridaJobs.org — free Florida-specific labour market data and local workforce services.
• FAFSA and the financial aid office — ask directly about how a course counts toward enrolment status before you register, not after.
• Florida Department of Environmental Protection (floridadep.gov) — free; programmes, data, and a substantial employer in this field.
• Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (myfwc.com) — free; research institute publications and career information.
• Water management districts — the St. Johns River district covers this region; significant regional employers of technicians.

Career Pathways

• Environmental science and protection technician — SOC 19-4042; the degree's primary target occupation.
• Environmental compliance and monitoring roles with state agencies, water management districts, and counties.
• Water and wastewater treatment operation — SOC 51-8031; licensed, stable, and frequently overlooked.
• Laboratory technician roles in environmental testing.
• Marine and coastal resource management — a distinctive Florida sector.
• Consulting firms conducting site assessment, permitting support, and remediation.
• Transfer to a bachelor's programme in environmental science, marine science, or biology.
• ⚠ Field work is physical and weather-exposed, and Florida field seasons include heat, insects, and water. It suits some people extremely well and others not at all — find out early, which is part of what this course is for.

Special Information

⚠ Use the mentor — the students who benefit are the ones who ask

• A mentoring relationship only works if you bring something to it. Arriving with questions produces useful advice; arriving passively produces a pleasant conversation and nothing else.
• Ask about the pathway specifically — which specialization suits your goals, what the sequence actually requires, and which courses are offered infrequently.
• ⚠ Ask which courses are offered only once a year. In small technical programmes this is the single most common cause of delayed graduation, and it is entirely avoidable if you know in advance.
• Ask about employers and what they look for, including certifications that are not part of the degree.
• Say when you are struggling, early. Faculty can do a great deal in week three and very little in week fourteen.
• Use the cohort. The people in this course are the ones who will be in your classes for two years — a study group formed now is worth more than any single course.
• Ask about field and internship opportunities, because they are frequently filled by whoever asked rather than by advertisement.
• Keep the relationship going after the course ends. The mentor is a reference and a source of opportunities long after the term.

⚠⚠ This is a zero-credit course at a credit-level number — understand what that means before you enrol

• Daytona State publishes this course at 0 credit hours, and this is not the usual reason a Florida course carries zero credit.
• It is not a PSAV clock-hour course. Those carry a leading zero in the course number and are measured in clock hours. This course's number is at a credit level, and it still carries no credit — a different and less familiar arrangement.
• ⚠ It contributes nothing toward a degree. It does not count toward the 60 credits of an Associate in Arts, toward an Associate in Science, or toward any general education requirement.
• ⚠⚠ Financial aid enrolment status is normally computed from credit hours. A zero-credit course generally does not contribute to full-time or half-time status — confirm with the financial aid office before assuming it does, because building a schedule around it can quietly drop a student below the threshold for aid.
• It can still carry fees and it still appears on the transcript, and it is still a distinct SCNS number under Rule 22.
• Daytona State publishes no contact-hour figure for it, so the time commitment is not stated in the catalog. Ask the department what the actual meeting schedule is.
• It is frequently a programme requirement even though it is not a degree requirement — which is exactly why students are caught out by it. Ask your advisor whether it is required for your programme, and when it must be taken.
• ⚠ Transferability is effectively nil. Institution-specific orientation content does not transfer, and there is no credit to carry.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement.

SLS1127 is published by Daytona State at 0 credit hours, offered fall, with no contact-hour figure stated.

⚠ Read the zero-credit note above before building a schedule around this course — particularly the financial aid point.