Duncan Polytechnical High School in the Fresno Unified School District is located in the midst of the richest agricultural area in the world--the San Joaquin Valley, yet few of its graduating seniors chose to continue their education in higher education agricultural programs in preparation for careers in agriculture.  Through the Challenge Grants Program, Duncan implemented a partnership with California State University, Fresno.  An outreach, recruitment, and mentoring program was offered that provided Hispanic and other underrepresented minority students with the knowledge, understanding and culturally compatible experience in agriculture that simply never could have been achieved in a 30 minute outreach session or by a brochure.  Agri-Corp also targeted high school students to mentor middle grade students in order to give both of them an "early start" to prepare for entrance in California State University, Fresno's College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

The decision to include middle school students became an important asset to the outreach.  Low pre-enrollment numbers for the high school agriculture program made it obvious that feeder students from the middle grades would be essential for the survival of the advanced education opportunities. All of the students worked well together in team-building and cross-age activities. 

During the course of the five-day bridge program, students met with more than 20 influential leaders in the field of agriculture.  The college Dean, Student Body President, Professors, college students, and many others provided information for the participants.  The personal contacts truly demystified the process of college entrance, financial aid and courses.  After their presentations, a student was selected to present a token of appreciation to the speaker and personally thank them on behalf of the group.  This process itself became a true leadership building experienced.

Parents were invited to participate in several activities and meetings that were offered.  For them it was also an opportunity to have their questions answered regarding college entrance, career opportunities, and sources of financial assistance.

The activities were evaluated daily by the participants through a form that was individually filled out.  The students ranked each activity on a scale of 1 - 5:  my favorite part, something I learned, something I would like to see changed, and what would make that day's session more helpful in the future.  The average for every day was in the range of 4.5 according to the student evaluations.  Positive comments and helpful suggestions were also beneficial to program development.

A PowerPoint Presentation of this summer bridge program was presented by Margaret Stannard at the National Ag in the Classroom Conference, held in Chicago, Illinois, and to members of the Duncan High Agriculture Advisory Committee.  The Central Valley Ag Literacy Committee received a presentation by Lonna Torrico, and a web-site linked to the college has been developed for disseminating information regarding the 2001 Agri-CORP held at their campus.

Lonna Torrico, Director
Central Valley Ag Literacy Program
College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
 California State University, Fresno
2910 East Barstow Avenue, MS OF 115
Fresno, CA  93740-8009
559.278.4559