If you love science, are into fisheries science and marine biology or are passionate about protecting our natural resources... you're in the right place!
The Hutton Program 2024 Applications are closed.
Submitted applications are being reviewed, and students will be notified by late April.
If you submitted an application, check on the award platform for decision updates.
For more information, visit our FAQs page.
Eligibility:
Students who live and have residency in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada are eligible to apply. The program is open to all current high school students in the classes of 2024, 2025 and 2026 regardless of race, creed, or gender. Applicants must be at least 16 by the end of the application period, January 16th, 2024. We highly encourage students from traditionally excluded backgrounds in the fisheries profession to submit applications to the Hutton Program. Past participants of the Hutton Program are not eligible to submit an application.
Students are selected by the members of the Hutton Review and Selection Committee. Once students are selected into the program, they are then paired with a mentor, a fisheries and aquatic sciences professional, located within a 30-45 minute commute of the student’s home. We draw upon our extensive network of fisheries professionals to match selected students with mentors regardless of their geographic location.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:
Students must complete all required fields in all five sections of the application for your application to be considered complete. Applicants who submit incomplete applications will not be considered for selection.
- Online application
- Responses to the three mandatory essay questions
- Hutton Student Reference Form (completed by a teacher, supervisor, coach, community member, or other affiliation that is not a peer or family)
- Student Reference Form
- Please download and send it to your reference. Completed references can be uploaded by the student on the online application or emailed to [email protected].
- Student Reference Form
- Student’s most recent transcript. If the student does not have direct access to their transcript, their school administrator email can be entered into the online application and the administrator can upload the transcript directly to the student’s application.
All applicants will be able to edit their application UNTIL it is submitted. Once the applicant has submitted their application, you are unable to make any changes.
SUBMITTING A STUDENT REFERENCE FORM:
Applicants will be required to download and send the Student Reference Form to someone to complete as a reference for them. Please have your recommender email it to [email protected] NO LATER than January 16th, 2024. References can also be uploaded by the student to their online application. Students are responsible for following up with their reference to make sure materials are submitted on time.
SUBMITTING STUDENT TRANSCRIPTS:
High school transcripts may be submitted via:
- Upload directly to the application portal (preferred)
- Email to [email protected]
Unofficial transcripts will be accepted, but official transcripts are preferred.
Program Stipulations:
While AFS staff works with our countless connections to place each Hutton Scholar with a suitable mentor for the summer, if you are selected into the program and AFS staff cannot match you with a suitable mentor, we are unable to offer you an internship position. We encourage both students and mentors to recruit participants for the program to ensure each accepted student will be matched with a mentor.
In some internships, it may become necessary for students to spend time overnight at a distant site with their mentors. Parental permission must be obtained by the mentor in advance of the trip, preferably with blanket permission for the entire summer.
AFS provides liability insurance for students and mentors who participate. Forms and instructions are provided to the mentor.
NOTE:
Applicants are unable to submit an application without uploading a file to the transcripts and/or Student Reference Form fields. Please upload a Word Document to each respective field that states who the document will arrive from (Name and Email).
For questions about the online application or application process, please contact [email protected]
Since 2001, the Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program has worked to create diversity and stimulate interest in Fisheries Science and Aquatic Resource Management through recruiting high school students from underrepresented backgrounds within the fisheries professional.
Not sure what to expect this summer?
Here is a list a some activities you may be involved in this summer:
- Stream sampling
- Seining
- Electrofishing
- Fish tagging and tracking
- Ecosystem restoration
- Public education
- Data analysis
- Laboratory analyses of fish to determine age and growth
Note: All internships are unique and there is no guarantee that selected students will have the option to participate in certain activities. Specific job duties will be discussed with the student’s mentor prior to the internship start date.
*Students will never be unaccompanied in the field. Mentors are required to have all students paired with a field crew to participate and complete field work.
Program Requirements for Selected Scholars:
Students selected for the Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program are expected to accomplish ALL requirements to successfully complete the program.
- The student, parent or guardian, and mentor are required to meet soon after notification to discuss duties, responsibilities, and the summer schedule.
- Students must return to the AFS Education Program Coordinator acceptance forms signed by the student, parent or guardian, and mentor
- Students must complete eight weeks and full-time hours of 32-40 hour per week for the Hutton Program
- Students must provide their own transportation to and from the work site.
**Travel and other expenses associated with fieldwork are borne by the mentor’s organization** - Complete and submit bi-weekly time-sheets, signed by student and mentor
- Students are required to provide written reports: a mid-summer report and a final report at the close of the program
- Complete end of program evaluation and assessment
If at any time during the summer program the student does not abide by the agreement made between student, parents, and mentor, AFS reserves the right to drop the student from the program and withhold the remaining scholarship funds.
Mentor-Scholar Matching:
Selected Hutton Scholars will be paired with a fisheries professional within a 30-45 minute commute from the student’s home. Students may work with more than one “mentor” over the course of their internship with their host agency, organization or institution. Hutton Scholars are placed within federal agencies, state agencies, college and universities as well as private companies.
While it is not required, if you have been recruited into the program or know a mentor you may want to work with, please indicate the potential mentor/host on your student online application.
Browse here to learn and gain information about Fisheries profession, career development and related activities! That puts you in the best possible position to be a Fisheries professional and where you can go to compete with other students as talented as you.
What is fisheries science?
Fisheries science is the study of freshwater, marine and/or estuarine aquatic systems that involve humans. A fishery is any body of water with which humans interact, such as in the form of fishing or swimming. A body of water that does not involve human interaction in one form or another is not a fishery.
What do fisheries scientists do?
Fisheries scientists analyze the ecological health and sustainability of fisheries, how the health of fisheries affects the people who interact with them and vice versa. Fisheries scientists assess and monitor fish and aquatic invertebrate populations to determine ecological and economic health of the environment as well as to determine harvest rates of various species. Harvest rates refer to the amount of fish or aquatic invertebrates caught for commercial, recreational or subsistence purposes. Fisheries scientists conduct research in the field as well as in laboratories.
What are the major areas of research within fisheries science?
Fisheries science includes many areas of research, such as studying aquatic populations, habitats, ecological health, biodiversity, physiology and toxicology, socioeconomics and fisheries management. Aquatic resources management refers to the process of minimizing adverse impacts on aquatic populations within their shared habitat through science-based practices in order to conserve the aquatic resource as a whole.
Download our e-Recruitment Materials to share with high school students, high school science teachers and guidance counselors and parents HERE
Enjoy the website and share it with your friends!
A Day in the Life of a Hutton Scholar
A day in the life of a Hutton Scholar can be busy and adventurous. As you’ll see on our social media and pictures on our website, these students work in various environments and ecosystems which make their jobs dynamic. Though they cover many different topics, you’ll see that the common factor is nature!
Many of our scholars spend most of their time outside conducting habitat and population research, water analyses, and even working with dune restoration. Other students spend time in the lab working with fish populations in fish hatcheries. Some students even have the opportunity to work with fellow scholars in different states whose research intertwines with their own. Water connects all and whether you’re interested in streams, oceans or lakes, there are opportunities for you to learn and experience topics in fish sciences and conservation wherever you live!
High School Internship and Research Opportunities:
- Student Conservation Association (SCA) (Nationwide)
- Geosciences Bridge Program (Maryland)
- Woods Hole Science Aquarium High School Internship (Maine)
- Youth Engaged 4 Change (Nationwide)
- Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (Multiple Science Related Internship Opportunities)
- Diversity Joint Venture by USFWS
Agencies and Organizations focused on environmental topics:
- United States Forest Service
- Bureau of Land Management
- NOAA Fisheries
- U.S Fish and Wildlife Service
- U.S Geological Survey
- The Nature Conservancy
- Trout Unlimited
- State Departments of Natural Resources, Conservation, Fish and Game, Parks and Recreation
Undergraduate Scholarship Opportunities:
- NOAA Pathways Program
- NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship (Scholarship and Summer Internship)
- NOAA Sea Grant
- 1890s Land-Grant University Scholarship Programs (Aquaculture, Fisheries, Marine Science and Natural Resources)
- www.pathwaystoscience.org (wide range of summer internship opportunities for current and interested undergraduate students)
- Instars & Emerge Diversity and Mentoring Programs
Job Boards for Fisheries, Aquatics and Environmental Professionals:
- American Fisheries Society
- The Wildlife Society
- American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
- Texas A&M Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
- USAJOBs (State and Federal jobs will be posted on this employment search engine)