July 13 - 26, 2008

Located in the heart of New York's Finger Lakes region, on beautiful Seneca Lake, the Environmental Studies Summer Youth Institute at Hobart and William Smith Colleges provides exceptional opportunities to explore the scientific, social, and humanistic perspectives of environmental issues.

The Institute offers a two-week, college-level interdisciplinary program for talented high-school students entering their junior and senior years. The program is designed as an introduction to a variety of environmental issues and perspectives on nature and our environment.

You will conduct research with faculty members in a variety of locations: on the HWS William F. Scandling (a 65-foot vessel on Seneca Lake), in streams, quaking bogs, the Adirondack Mountains, and the Colleges science laboratories.

Working in the field, in laboratories, in classrooms, and on a four-day camping trip, you will explore a range of topics in environmental policy, economics, and ethics, and come to see the natural world through the eyes of artists, historians, philosophers, and scientists.

You will have the opportunity to work closely with Hobart and William Smith faculty members in small groups, conducting hands-on research with first-rate equipment, and learning individually and collectively in a rigorous yet noncompetitive atmosphere.

A love of nature, learning, and the outdoors provides the focus for this unique educational experience.

Check out what students from 2006 had to say about their experience.
Click here

Announcements

Click here to see the tentative 2007 itinerary. This will give you an idea of the types of things you can expect to do during ESSYI 2008!

Click here to download the application materials or request more information.