“Before receiving the Dean’s Fellowship, I was not confident that I would be able to continue furthering my education beyond my bachelor’s degree,” said Olmedo. “I come from a family where I was the first to attend and finish college – in other words, I am a first generation student. With the dean’s fellowship, this not only removes the financial barriers that were existing that prevented me from being able to pursue my master’s, but also gives me the opportunity to continue to work with Boise State and continue as a student leader, which I am proud and more than happy to do.”
Olmedo currently is applying her graduate research toward an entrepreneurial endeavor at a local Idaho cosmetics startup.
“The company I work for has been growing rapidly and the demand for organization structure and design has risen, allowing me to use this education to our company’s benefit,” Olmedo explained. “The research I am currently working on is with Dr. Vicki Stieha on an action research project engaging underrepresented STEM students in designing welcoming communities.”
About the OPWL Program
The Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning (OPWL) program helps prepare students for careers in the areas of instructional design, training and development, e-learning, workplace performance improvement, organizational development, program evaluation and performance consulting.