Jef Ferguson, a UALR graduate student in the School of Mass Communications, wrote a grant for his Rhetoric and Writing class this semester, and it landed him a job.

Based on the grant proposal he wrote for Suzanne Barr’s grant writing class, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency in the U.S. Department of Justice awarded him a $123,000 grant to establish a mentoring program through 4-H.

Ferguson’s grant, “4-H National Mentoring Program” for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service 4-H Youth Development, will fund programs designed to mentor at-risk children of military families in Pulaski and Sebastian counties.

“Funds from the grant will be used to pay partial salaries for a principal investigator and two site coordinators – county 4-H agents near Fort Chaffee and Jacksonville Air Force Base –  and a full salary for the program coordinator,” said Dr. George Jensen, chair of the Department of Rhetoric and Writing.

And who will be the program coordinator?

“That would be me,” Ferguson said. He soon will go for training at national headquarters in Chevy Chase, Md.

A graduate of White Hall High School, Ferguson graduated last year from UALR with a degree in mass communications. He currently is working on a master’s degree in the School of Mass Communications.

He has been working as an intern at the Cooperative Extension Service working on similar mentoring programs through 4-H. He also has worked part-time for UALR’s  Office of Communications shooting and producing videos for the university website.