Sources: Ashley Osborne, 4-H youth development specialist and Laurie Thomas, extension forester 

Young people interested in learning more about nature and spending time outdoors may want to apply for Kentucky 4-H’s Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences Academy. Soon, the academy will open its applications for its next group of scholars. 

The academy is a three-year program designed to increase young people’s awareness and knowledge about the state’s natural environment. In the program, scholars receive hands-on instruction from natural resource professionals about the area’s water, forests, entomology and wildlife. They learn about Kentucky’s natural diversity in some of its most beautiful locations.  

Applications will be available May 1 and due by June 1 and are open to current fifth-graders who will be sixth-grade students when the academy begins meeting in the fall. If selected, youth must make a three-year commitment to the program. Scholars meet each fall at UK’s J.M. Feltner Memorial 4-H Camp near London for a three-day experience and take quarterly one-day field trips. 

More information and applications will be available on the academy’s website May 1 at https://4-h.ca.uky.edu/NRESci or by contacting your 4-H youth development agent. While June 1 is the statewide application deadline, local deadlines may occur sooner. Contact the (COUNTY NAME) office of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service for more information.  

Educational programs of the Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expressions, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability.  

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4-H