Academics: Internships

Young Scholars Internship Program

A Message from the Dean

Before I was an administrator, I spent many hours in the laboratory and the classroom. When I see learning in its pure form, I admire the simple beauty of it. That’s what the Young Scholars Program is to me. It links one curious young mind with a knowledgeable scientists. Together, they both discover the joy of learning.

This program was in place when I came to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 2005 so I can’t take credit for its success. But as the statewide coordinator for it, I have made it my business to learn what it accomplishes and why it works. Here’s what I’ve learned. The Young Scholars Program works because of the people.

It attracts students like Charles Shyng, now a student at Washington University in St. Louis. Because of YS, Charles hopes to become a researcher and a doctor.

It works because the mentors and leaders of this program believe in what they are doing. Gerald Arkin, assistant dean on the Griffin campus says, “The researchers’ rewards from this program are personal rewards in their hearts, their souls and their minds. They are helping mold a student’s future.”

The coordinators on our three campuses – Pat Clifton in Athens, Evonne Thompson in Griffin and Susan Reinhardt in Tifton – see amazing transformations every year. As one parent said, this program has managed to accomplish something in six weeks that they couldn’t do in 17 years.

I’ll admit, I have some selfish reasons for supporting the Young Scholars Program. It’s simply good for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. It sharpens our faculty and challenges them to focus their teaching methods in a new way. More importantly, it presents careers in science, math and technology as a real option. If that discovery leads them to one of our UGA campuses, we welcome them.

All this good work is done only with private support. The full-time paid jobs the students hold, and the trips abroad are all supported by sponsors who believe in this program as much as we do.

Our goal for the Young Scholars Program is just to meet the needs. Right now, we turn students away for lack of sponsorship. I don’t want to lose a single potential scientist because we couldn’t fund his or her dreams. I believe each one deserves the right to discover the pure joy of learning.

J. Scott Angle
Dean and Director
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences