If your son or daughter is in high school and they’re interested in a career in agriculture, they’ll want to attend Huntington University’s Agbioscience Academy coming up June 23 through 27 on their campus in Huntington, Indiana.
“One thing we know about the ag students is they don’t like to sit in a classroom with no windows. They want to be able to be out and about in the fields and in the greenhouse space,” says Nate Perry, Managing Director of the Haupert Institute for Agricultural Studies at Huntington University.
He tells Hoosier Ag Today that the week-long camp provides a hands-on experience for each student.
“[Ag students] want to be looking through microscopes and really getting their hands dirty—yes, we have a soils lab that they’ll actually participate in where their hands get really dirty, but it’s highly interactive and very engaging as they think about what a career could look like in agriculture,” he says.
High school students attending the Agbioscience Academy will learn about the many different facets of the ag industry—including agronomy, precision agriculture, technology, plant biology, animal science, and ag business.
“For some students, they really understand—for maybe the first time—how science-driven the agriculture industry really is. Whether it’s a drone in the air or it’s something you’re looking at under a microscope, or even the business side. In farming, we just don’t throw things at the at the wall and hope it sticks. We unpack input costs. We also have guest speakers who come in and talk about research and development and what it may look like to turn that into sales,” says Nate.
Thanks to sponsorships and funding provided by the Avis Foundation and the Dr. Harry Brickley Farm Foundation, the cost for the entire five-day overnight Agbioscience Academy is only $250 per student.
“We want to try and make sure that this is something that students can afford,” says Nate. “There are also scholarships available, if someone is in a position where they’re feeling really stretched pretty thin and even the $250 might be a little bit of a of a reach for them, there are some scholarships even beyond what’s already been provided by our sponsors to drive that cost down.”
The camp includes staying in the on-campus residence halls in a single-occupancy room for the week. Each student who attends will receive their meals each day, along with a camp t-shirt.
For more information about the Department of Agricultural Studies at Huntington University, visit Huntington.edu/Agriculture.
CLICK BELOW for Hoosier Ag Today’s radio news story.
CLICK BELOW to hear C.J. Miller’s full conversation with Nate Perry from Huntington University about the upcoming Agbioscience Academy.
