Established 10 years ago by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), AgDiscovery has grown into a nationwide program, held this year at 13 campuses throughout the nation. In June and July 2011, the University of Hawai‘i, represented by CTAHR, participated in the program for the first time. Ten exceptional students were selected from over 70 applicants to take part in a transformational experience, blending technical learning and cultural immersion. The overall goal of the Hawaii AgDiscovery Program was to expose high school students to cutting-edge technologies and stimulating learning experiences that would encourage them to select an agricultural field as an academic major and as their future career choice.
The program was planned by a team of CTAHR faculty and staff, along with professionals from APHIS’s Plant Protection and Quarantine, Veterinary Services, Biotechnology Regulatory Services, and Wildlife Services branches. The intensive two-week training program included numerous hands-on classroom exercises and lectures delivered by experts from CTAHR and APHIS, as well as visits to CTAHR laboratories and experiment stations, APHIS and other government facilities, and commercial agricultural operations. In the classroom and field training, students learned to perform water-quality analysis, use GPS devices, identify microorganisms under the microscope, extract DNA, and color fabric using natural dyes. In addition to learning by doing, students got to network with professionals across the agricultural spectrum and observe careers in agriculture and natural resources management. Besides the many APHIS branches, and other government institutions such as the Hawaii Department of Agriculture and the Honolulu Zoo, a number of private companies contributed to making the Hawaii AgDiscovery Program a success, including Kualoa Ranch, Mari’s Garden, Monsanto, and Pioneer. The CTAHR Alumni Association also added their support.
The training program also included sessions to hone teamwork, leadership, and communication. Throughout, students were exposed to local culture, Native Hawaiian practices, and college life. In their exits surveys, without exception the student participants agreed they had had “fun,” “educational,” “engaging,” “exciting,” “amazing,” and “memorable” experiences that would help them make future decisions about their field of study in college and the many career paths in agriculture and natural resource management.
