Project Future, Now offers taste of college life

Purdue University’s College of Agriculture offers programs for middle and high school students interested in studying agriculture in college.

Project Future is open to students in grades 7-9. This program has been a part of Purdue’s recruitment efforts for over 20 years. Project Future gives students an opportunity to see what the college experience is all about by exposing students to the College of Agriculture here at Purdue.

“Project Future gave me the chance to experience a college,” said Jherika Gogins, a past Project Future participant. “We got to go to classes with a real professor and to meet new students who had some of the same interests. It gave me more of an idea as to what agriculture really was and how it affects my life in ways I didn’t know.”

Project Now is a more concentrated program for students in the grades 10-11. After the morning session with Project Future participants, Project Now students attend a program about preparing to attend Purdue.

Mary Welch, assistant director of academic programs in the College of Agriculture, helps coordinate both Project Future and Project Now.

“Our goal is to get students thinking about doing well in high school and getting ready for college as well as showing the students the importance of education,” Welch said.