2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Modern agriculture poses interesting and complex ecological problems and opportunities that require an educated workforce to pursue careers in this field. Enrollments in agriculture majors have decreased in the last 20 years, despite the employment opportunities that continue to grow for college graduates in the food and agriculture economic sectors. Short residential programs have increased agriculture knowledge for students and increased interest in agriculture as evidenced by the work of Cotton et al., 2009 and Galbraith et al., 2003. Creating an engaging and enjoyable experiential program for young people can build positive attitudes towards agriculture as a result and increase the likelihood of a student enrolling in an agricultural college major (Wiley, 1997). Programs that provide an opportunity to build positive attitudes towards agriculture in a caring, mentoring environment can grow youth self-efficacy, needed life skills, and enhance their interest in an agricultural career. The Horticultural Science Summer Institute (HSSI) is a pre-college program of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at NC State University. HSSI provides engaging experiences designed for youth to explore potential careers in horticulture. The program is targeted towards high school aged youth that have shown an interest and an aptitude in science, and are on the cusp of making career decisions. Sharf (2006) suggests that career exploration is considered to be the most prominent in late adolescence/early adulthood. HSSI students participate in a broad range of horticultural experiences, from faculty and graduate student led, hands-on workshops, keynotes from industry visionaries, and visits to several horticultural businesses. Throughout the week, participants are exposed to career possibilities, college decision-making and leadership development with an emphasis on using the 4-H Experiential Learning model to foster reflection and processing of experiences that facilitate deep understanding and awareness. In programmatic evaluations, HSSI students showed an overall positive increase in science attitudes and interest in STEM careers. Of the 114 program alumni, 10% of the students applied and were accepted into NC State’s Department of Horticultural Science. Follow-up surveys suggest that HSSI students that did not choose horticulture as a vocation have found ways to weave horticulture into their daily life including home gardening, agriculture and environmental coursework, among others. Students shared that they built strong relationships with departmental personnel indicating HSSI can be a tangible recruitment mechanism into the horticultural sciences.