Governor's School for Agriculture

Welcome to the Virginia Summer Residential Governor's School for Agriculture at Virginia Tech

The Virginia Summer Residential Governor's School for Agriculture (VGSA) at Virginia Tech provides academically rigorous educational enhancement for future scientists and leaders of Virginia, the United States, and the world. VGSA students interact with and learn directly from internationally known teachers, scientists, and researchers from Virginia Tech, a leading research university. Students attending the Virginia Summer Residential Governor's School for Agriculture at Virginia Tech will be selected from the most able rising juniors and seniors from the Commonwealth's public, private, and home schools.

The mission of the Virginia Governor’s School for Agriculture at Virginia Tech is to develop future leaders and scientists for careers in agriculture. Concentration is placed on the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, using the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational and Applied Science Program as the framework for coursework and experiences.

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational and Applied Science Program focuses on building a foundation of fundamental and applied knowledge in food and agricultural sciences critical for solving current and future societal challenges.

Priority Areas

The AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program supports grants in six priority areas:

• Plant health and production and plant products
• Animal health and production and animal products
• Food safety, nutrition, and health
• Bioenergy, natural resources, and environment
• Agriculture systems and technology
• Agriculture economics and rural communities

The Virginia Governor’s School for Agriculture also strives to demonstrate and help students connect the six USDA-AFRI initiatives with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This is done to build an understanding of global issues related to food, fiber, fuel, and shelter, how those issues impact people and communities, and the role agriculture plays in providing solutions to complex problems.

This mission will be accomplished through rigorous scientifically informed courses and experiential-based activities such as academic research, lab work, and field trips.

The goals of the Virginia Governor’s School for Agriculture are to:

1. Provide a rigorous agricultural educational program that will challenge gifted and talented students to study and research the scientific nature of agriculture as it relates to and affects the Virginia and global agriculture industry;
2. Provide structured educational discourse designed to increase students’ ability to critically think and solve problems associated with providing safe, economical, and environmentally sustainable food, fiber, fuel, and shelter to the world’s population.
3. Acquaint rising junior and senior students with scientific education and career opportunities available in agricultural economics, agricultural leadership, animal science, biological systems engineering, food and nutrition science, plant science, and veterinary medicine;
4. Encourage critical thinking and meaningful dialogue to develop effective communicators who can confidently engage in a variety of settings, understand different viewpoints, and adapt to complex situations with clarity and respect.

Opportunity for Collaboration

Please consider using the VGSA as an educational outreach program for your externally funded research. The VGSA is funded with grant dollars received from the Virginia Department of Education. For the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, this is an annual outreach program for presenting the latest research to Virginia’s gifted and advanced students interested in agriculture. Contact Dr. Brett Milliken (bmilliken@vt.edu), for more details.