In an exciting initiative to foster community collaboration and academic mentorship, the USDA UC Merced’s FARMERS Program partnered with El Capitan High School’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter.

Throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, the FARMERS fellows, comprising four graduate students and four undergraduate students from UC Merced, dedicated their time and expertise to mentorship. Together they worked closely with the high school students in the Agriculture Chemistry class to address today’s agricultural challenges. The FFA students conducted surveys and small-scale experiments ranging from food preservation to growing plants under different lights. 

On April 27th, 2024, the FARMERS Program organized and hosted the first FFA Spring Symposium for El Capitan High School to celebrate the students’ hard work and introduction to the realm of science and research. Congratulations to the FFA Effectiveness Survey project (Shaminka Elwin, Isabella Zambelli, Payton Zeller, Tegan Siemiller, Zoe Schuller, and Guerin Bliss) for winning the poster presentation award.

Thank you to everyone who attended the symposium. Thank you Dr. Erin Hestir for the warm welcome regards. Thank you the judges for your time and efforts.

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