UGA Young Scholars Program

What is the Young Scholars Program?

The Young Scholars Program (YSP) is a paid five-week summer internship program for high school students interested in agricultural, food, and environmental sciences. Selected students work 30 hours per week actively engaged in research under the guidance of a faculty mentor on the UGA Athens, Griffin or Tifton campus. During the program, students attend workshops and visit agricultural operations to gain exposure to the various fields of study and careers in agriculture.

Upon completion of the program, students present their research during the poster session at the Young Scholars Pre-Collegiate Research Conference held the final three days of the program on the UGA Athens campus.

Scholars are expected to:

• Commit to the full five-week internship program.
• Work and commute daily to either the Athens, Griffin, or Tifton campus.
• Conduct supervised research in agricultural, food, and environmental science.
• Participate in the three-day Young Scholars Pre-Collegiate Research Conference through poster presentation.

When:

May 29 - July 9: Internship Program   

July 10 - July 12: Young Scholars Pre-Collegiate Research Conference

Application information:

• Application opens for submissions: November 1
  
• Application submission deadline: January 31
• Selection notification: April 1

Eligibility requirements:

• Completion of sophomore year in high school.
  
• 16 years old by the program start date.
• Sincere interest in scientific exploration in agricultural, food and environmental science; math and technology.
• Completion of one high school science course, including laboratory, and one semester of algebra.
• Submit a completed application that includes an essay and two teacher’s recommendation letters.

UGA faculty mentors and or their graduate assistant provide academics/lab/research experience. http://ysp.caes.uga.edu/

All interested students are eligible to apply. However, we only accept students who are interested in Agricultural, food, and Environmental Sciences and those with scientific knowledge, which can be difficult as most schools do not have students who understand the field of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences or are interested in them.

Internship Dates: May 28, 2024- July 12, 2024. (Interns who are residents will move in on May 28th and all interns are required for onboarding and orientation on May 28th 2024).

Stipend: $10.50 bi-weekly.

Dorms: Interns selected to reside on campus must deposit $700 towards dorms, and we will cover the rest. This year, we are accepting 20 students. 2-3 per high school, and we only accept 8 residents maximum. That means that we accept 8 interns who would have a commute of an hour plus.

Meal Plans: For residents, meal plans are covered, but for commuters, we only provide lunch tickets once a week. Commuters are local county schools who must commute each day. Residents are from the Atlanta metro area or out of state, etc.

Want to hear why other faculty members host a Young Scholar? Click below to hear from the Dean, professors, YSP Students, and more who participated in YSP!

Links!

Mentors: https://youtu.be/n-YceInEtPQ

Students: https://youtu.be/ylf1xvOMxpQ