The Catskill Institute for the Environment, Inc. is seeking applications from high school seniors interested in a career in science for a two-week college credit summer course investigating the Biology of Nature in the Catskills. Enrollment in Catskill Summer 2001 is limited to nine students between their junior and senior years in high school. Alumni will return home with a broader understanding of the regional environment and the critical reasons to preserve the Catskills for future generations.

Applications are due May 1, 2001. Catskill Summer 2001 will take place July 8-23 and will offer classroom instruction and field work research projects. "This is an exciting opportunity for local high school students to learn from professors at local colleges and field stations about the terrestrial and aquatic habitats of the Catskills. It's a 'learning by doing' approach to regional environmental issues," says Morton S. Adams, chair of the Catskill Institute for the Environment, Inc. Besides a rigorous academic curriculum, students will also be exposed to team building and awareness skills directed by the Education Department chair, Jose Maldonado-Rivera and his students from Hartwick College. Upon successful completion of the course, graduates will receive three college credits from Ulster County Community College.

Catskill Summer students will study and reside at the following field stations:

• Ashokan Field Campus of SUNY, New Paltz
• Pine Lake Environmental Campus, Hartwick College,
• Biological Field Station, SUNY at Oneonta
• The Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve and Biological Field Station in Rensselaerville, NY.

The cost of tuition will be about $300 per student plus books and equipment. Additional fees for transportation, room and board will be supported through a grant from the Catskill Watershed Corporation and in-kind contributions from host institutions. Scholarships are being offered by three local organizations: the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, Purple Mountain Press, and the John Burroughs Natural History Society.

The Catskill Institute for the Environment, Inc. is a consortium of Catskill regional colleges and environmental organizations dedicated to providing students from the Catskill region with knowledge and awareness of their local environment. The Institute seeks to stimulate cooperation among regional colleges and to develop the infrastructure for innovative environmental education and research.

For more information, or to receive an application, contact Catskill Institute for the Environment, 212 High Point Mountain Road, West Shokan, NY 12494, phone: 845-657-7147, or email: Bethia Waterman, bethia@catskill.net, or Dr. Morton S. Adams, Further information is available at www.watersheducators.org and click on educational events.