Instead of hitting the beach, fourteen high school students traded swimming suits for lab coats last summer and turned their attention to scientific experiments.
The High School Research Program offers high school students guidance with researchers in Texas A & M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Jennifer Funkhouser, academic adviser for the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management, directs this four-week summer program designed to increase understanding of research and its career potential.
Several considerations go into selecting students, including grades, school involvement and interest in science and agriculture. And many students come from poorer school districts. Funkhouser says, “This is their chance to learn techniques and do experiments they would never have a chance to do in high school.” Warner Ervin of Houston is interested in animal science and learned how to tell male from female mosquitoes. His adviser, Craig Coates, studies the genes of mosquitoes that allow them to fight against malaria and yellow fever. Coates thought this experience would be fun and helpful to the high school students.
The agricultural research at A&M differs from stereotypes. It’s “molecular(分子)science on the cutting edge,” Funkhouser says. The program broadened students’ knowledge. Victor Garcia of  Rarcia of Rio Grande City hopes to become a biology teacher and says he learned a lot about chemistry from the program.
At the end of the program, the students presented papers on their research. They’re also paid $600 for their work—another way this program differs from others, which often charge a fee.
Fourteen students got paid to learn that science is fun, that agriculture is a lot more than milking and plowing and that research can open many doors.
72. The research program is chiefly designed for ________.
A. high school advisers from Houston
B. college students majoring in agriculture
C. high school students from different places
D. researchers at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
73. It can be inferred from the text that the students in poorer areas ____.
A. found the program useful to their future
B. could often take part in the program
C. had little chance to go to college
D. showed much interest in their high school experiments
74. When the program was over, the students ________.
A. entered that college                                  B. wrote research reports
C. paid for their research                                D. found ways to make money
75. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. A program for Agricultural Science Students
B. A program for Animal Science Students
C. A program for Medical Science Lovers
D. A program for Future Science lovers