UF’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences is starting a program for high-school students this Summer.
The Florida Youth Institute will allow incoming juniors and seniors to do hands-on activities relating to life science, agriculture and natural resource disciplines, said Charlotte Emerson, the director of student development and recruitment for the college. The details for the program, which will be held from July 10 to July 15, are still being finalized.
The program, which will take up to 25 students, will cost $350, she said. Florida residents will be given preference, and participants will stay in Hume Hall.
“The main purpose is to immerse students to issues and disciplines in agriculture and life sciences and how it relates to the community, Florida and globally,” Emerson said.
On the last night of the program, there will be a banquet held for all students with two guest lecturers: Adam Putnam, the Florida commissioner of agriculture, and Elaine Turner, the dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Turner said she hopes high-school students realize agriculture and life sciences affect many aspects of their lives.
“It relates to the food choices they make every day; it relates to the environmental practices that they use,” she said.
