Description and Application

Program Description:

Modern agriculture is a highly technical field of science that often requires an interdisciplinary approach involving professionals with specializations in chemistry, biology, environmental science, engineering, and traditional agriculture and food science specialists. The workforce demand for well-trained agriculture and food science professionals is very high. USDA makes special efforts to attract minority students to the field. However, students majoring in science often do not correlate their professional training with career opportunities within food and agriculture. To bridge this gap, for the last four years, we have successfully run USDA-funded FANE and REEU projects that train high school and college students and their educators in collaboration and mentorship with graduate students for STEM EDUCATION to build careers in agriculture and food science, address all levels of preparation as one segregated pipeline. We focus our activities around one central interdisciplinary research topic related to a new generation of super-fruit called Aronia berries. We practice interdisciplinary active, experiential learning (AEL) principles in a frame of group pedagogy.

 Our project, called ASTEMA – Advancing STEM in Agriculture in HBCUs, is designed to attract high school and undergraduate STEM students majoring or planning to major in chemistry, biology, environmental sciences, and technology majors to careers in high-tech agriculture using active, experiential learning techniques, that has proven to be a powerful tool to increase student’s awareness, involvement into studies, leadership, and critical thinking abilities. During the academic year, program trainees participate in bi-monthly webinars in STEM in agriculture topics addressing agricultural engineering, genomics, and biotechnology, along with professional development and leadership topics, including choice and preparation for college, application package, writing the resume, successful interviews, patenting workshop, application to federal jobs and more. This is followed by summer experience on campus for five weeks for college students and three weeks for high school students and their educators, where they form interdisciplinary teams and work on active experiential learning problems that cannot be solved by one major only. Their summer activities are organized in week-long, theme-focused sequences of webinars, laboratory, and field-active experiential learning research activities. A series of pre-and post-workshop assignments, reports, and presentations help assess program effectiveness. Two graduate student-mentors and some faculty mentors participate in all activities. All trainees receive certificates by the end of the program upon completion of all program requirements and a modest stipend. Travel camp transportation and housing are covered, and each participant has a limited food allowance.

 Jookender Community Initiatives Inc. is responsible for the logistics of the summer travel camp and participates actively in recruiting and training participants.

 The program has an external evaluator who attends part of activities and observes the performance of participants and mentors.

Request for Application for the 2026-27 Cohort - Students and Educators: Please Read the Official Announcement Below, then download the application forms.

Internship opportunity: ASTEMA - Advancing STEM in Agriculture in 1890 HBCUs - via Team Active Experiential Work of College and High School students with Travel Camp. 

Twelve positions for high school students and two for teachers/educators working with high school students are available at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in collaboration with Jookender. The program is designed for high school students planning to attend college and major in STEM disciplines. These students are interested in exploring how such majors can be applied to build a career in agriculture with the USDA. The program consists of online meetings twice a month during October, followed by the in-person three-week travel camp activities on and off the UMES campus. Pre- and post-activities assignments will be submitted anonymously for evaluation, but not for grading purposes. Part of the online activities will include lectures and discussions in STEM science in agriculture, genomics, biotechnology, phytochemistry, and the use of technology and engineering in agriculture. The other online meetings will be devoted to professional and leadership development, as well as college preparation. Travel camp will include active team experiential learning led by trained college students and their mentors, workshops in small electronic devices building, 3D printing, drones in agriculture, soil analysis, medical herbal teas, and many others, field trips to agricultural and demonstration facilities, wet experiments in the lab, reporting and final presentations by teams of trainees. Travel and housing expenses, as well as a food allowance, will be provided during the travel camp. At the same time, a stipend of $1,000 will be paid to each High School participant and $ 1,500 to each Educator upon completion of all program activities. In addition, each high school student will earn up to 120 community hours, and each educator will receive a certificate listing 120 professional development hours. 

Criteria for the program participants' selection are as follows:

For high school students:

            1) Has an interest in STEM science.

            2) Prepare to apply to colleges for STEM and Agricultural disciplines.

3)  Has a desire to explore STEM in agriculture.

4) Completed at least one course in high school science with a grade of C or above.

5)  Merit, based on the application - one-page essay, resume, and school transcripts.

6) Available to participate in Zoom webinars twice a month, from October to June, in the late evening on weekdays.

7)  Committed to a three-week travel camp.

8)  Have at least one more high-school year after the completion of summer camp.

9) Eligible for employment in the US for the period, including the entire month of July 2027.

An applicant must match all the criteria above.

How students apply:

• The student's application is a multi-step process that starts with submitting a pre-application to our recruiting partners at Jookender. Please follow this link for more information and to apply: STEM Internship & Year-Long Program 

• Once you pass the pre-application process, you will be instructed on how to apply. The application will include the application file available below on this page.

• The final application deadline for the 2026-27 cohort is September 15th, 2026, at 5 PM EST - documents required: one-page essay describing why you are interested in the program and how this program would advance your career goals, resume, unofficial school transcripts, application form, proof of eligibility to work in the US for any employer will be required for all accepted participants. Note that you have to complete the entire pre-application process and submit the application before that deadline.

For educators:

         1)  Committed to participating in all webinars and the travel camp above.

  2) Teaching in a high school or after-school/extramural programs, or a student specializing in high school STEM education at a late stage.

 3)  Willing to act as an educator and a chaperon during the travel camp.

 4)  Interested in incorporating materials on STEM in agriculture into at least one of the classes/after-school activities. For this purpose, teachers must submit a one-page proposal outlining an activity that will be used to evaluate the selection criteria.

 5)  Willing to chaperon 12 students at the camp. Prepare and conduct a demo lesson based on the program materials, including creating a lesson plan, workbook, and demo video, and submit these materials during the summer program.

The applicant must match all of the criteria above.

How educators apply:, please follow the link Educator application form.docx - Google Drive, download the application, and have the following documents ready: a one-page essay explaining your interest in STEM in agriculture and how the internship will help advance your career, resume (must include applicant’s email), one-page proposal on what and how will be implemented in the course or after school activity – please describe the activity, the place where it will be delivered or conducted, and the population that will be involved.

 The application deadline for the 2025-26 cohort is closed for students, but still opened for educators until December 30th, 2025, at 5 PM EST - documents required: resume, one-page essay describing why you are interested in the program and how this program would advance your career goals, a proposal for materials implementation in at least one of your courses, proof of being educator, proof of eligibility to work in the US for any employer will be required for all accepted participants.

The application for 2026-27 cohort is open until December 30th 2026 at 5 PM.

Before you apply, please have all required documents ready as MS Word or Google Docs files - combine all documents into one file. Send the file and the cover letter directly to the project PI - Dr. Victoria Volkis of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Email: vvolkis@umes.edu . The application form and workbook for high school students on writing a resume are available below.

If you have any questions, please email them to the project PI – Prof. Victoria V. Volkis, via email to vvolkis@umes.edu .