CULTIVATING YOUTH INTEREST

A pitch for Poly ag

For the 20th year, the university markets its College of Agriculture to high-schoolers from low-income regions as part of its effort to diversify the student body

By Nick Wilson

Cal Poly faculty and students had one major message for visiting high-schoolers from low-income areas: Jobs are aplenty in the business of agriculture, and it’s work that offers variety and demands skill.

That’s what they told a group of more than 100 students from throughout California. Most in attendance Thursday were Hispanic.

The 20th year of the “26 Hours at Cal Poly” event aims to market the university’s agriculture program to underrepresented students.

It continues today with elementary students from Guadalupe.

Cal Poly’s Latinos in Agriculture student club hosted the event, which featured demonstrations on plants, cheese, animal science and agriculture business.

“The College of Agriculture has a long way to go in terms of diversifying (its student body),” Cal Poly agriculture professor Robert Flores said. “The No. 1 thing is to get kids onto a college campus and to let them know it’s a place for them.”

Several teachers who chaperoned high-schoolers Thursday for the all-day program were former Cal Poly agriculture students.

Many of the high-schoolers had never set foot on a university campus, and many have parents who never attended college, event organizers said.

They described the students as some of the brightest teens from the All Tribes American Indian Charter School in San Diego County and communities such as Watsonville, King City, Perris and Santa Paula.

“I’m learning a lot here, and it’s a lot of fun,” Marisela Cuevas from King City High School said.

In the early afternoon, students made boutonnieres and raced each other while holding potted plants. They also attended a talk about careers in horticulture.

The students also got an up-close look at livestock.

Bilingual agriculture managers and business people are in high demand in the ag industry, the faculty and students told the high-schoolers.

“There are so many opportunities out there, and we can’t even fill all of the jobs for our students when they graduate,” Flores said. “And ag teachers are in high demand as well.”

Salvador Hurtado, a 22-year-old Cal Poly student studying agriculture science, said he attended the event when he was in high school. He plans to teach after getting his bachelor’s degree.

Agriculture is an international trade with many workers who speak only Spanish, Hurtado said.

“We want to show students that there’s a lot more to agriculture than what they might think,” he said. “Some probably have family members who work in the fields, and they don’t know that there’s more out there for them.”

Reach Nick Wilson at 781-7922.