Drexel Environmental Science Leadership Academy:
A Summer Program for High School Students
Drexel's weeklong Environmental Science Leadership Academy is one part adventure travel, one part leadership training, and two parts environmental science field experience. Students will habitat-hop from seaside, to salt marsh, to maritime forest, all along the New Jersey coastline, gaining hands-on experience in a range of research areas, including beach, marsh and Pine Barren ecology, botany and paleontology. The "tour guides" on this adventure will be all-star Drexel professors and expert scientists from the nation’s oldest natural history museum, the Academy of Natural Sciences. Students will gain a broad understanding of what it means to be an environmental scientist and what it takes to be a leader in the field.
Based at the Barnegat Bay Field Station in Ocean Township, NJ, the Environmental Science Leadership Academy opens with a canoe trip through the Pine Barrens and ends with a fossil dig with Drexel paleontologist Dr. Ken Lacovara, whose world-class Mantua dig site has been featured on the Discovery Channel. Through a combination of theory-based courses and a lot of hands-on experience—the heart of a Drexel education—students will bond together through a research-rich summer adventure that will open the door to a future in environmental science and related fields.
View a Sample Schedule »
2014 Academy Dates Coming Soon!
Location: Barnegat Bay Field Station, New Jersey
Cost: $1000, includes housing, meals and activities. *Students who complete the summer program and choose to enroll at Drexel in the future will receive a $2000 renewable scholarship.
Eligibility: Open to high school sophomores and juniors (students who will be junior or senior status in September 2014)
Application Deadline: The deadline for 2013 has passed. 2014 coming soon!
Residential: This is a residential program. Students will live in dorms at the Barnegat Bay Field Station in New Jersey. Two, same-sex students per dorm room.
Contact: Director of Recruitment Gary Johnson,
gej24@drexel.edu or 215-571-3514
How to apply:
Students must submit a 250-500 word essay with their online application. The topic of the essay is: "Why are you interested in Drexel's Environmental Science Leadership Academy and what do you hope to learn/gain by attending the program?" Please make sure you have your essay ready when completing the application. You will also be asked to self-report your PSAT and SAT scores (if applicable), as well as your GPA and Class Rank (if known).