What RISE Offers

The Florida Youth Institute is a life-changing experience for high school students.  As a participant you will get the unique opportunity to engage with local leaders and experts on critical global challenges, participate in hands-on activities, and explore exciting ways to make a difference in Florida and around the world. As a participant in FYI, you would have the opportunity to: 

• Present research and recommendations on ways to solve key global challenges in a short speech and small group discussions with statewide experts
• Experience laboratories and campus facilities
• Connect with other student leaders from across Florida to share ideas, identify solutions to these problems and build lasting friendships
• Explore the issues, current research and opportunities to make a difference at the University of Florida
• Interact with global leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs in Florida working to end hunger and poverty and improve food security around the world
• Meet with UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Dean Dr. Kati Migliaccio and representatives from FDACS

Students research issues they care about, and propose their ideas to solve these grand challenges. These application papers are entered to compete in The World Food Prize. Students who participate in the Florida Youth Institute are eligible to receive a $7,500 scholarship to study in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Florida, receive recognition as a Borlaug Scholar, and qualify for internships and further opportunities. 

Applicants should be motivated, mature students who are dedicated to the future of agriculture and the related sciences.

The Florida Youth Institute is hosted by the University of Florida with the generous support of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences.

Program Cost & Fees

*This program does NOT count towards tuition reimbursement programs like Florida Prepaid*

The amount of personal spending money required for the program varies. Participants should not bring large amounts of cash to the program.  Instead, families should arrange for students to have a debit, prepaid card, or credit card. Students should budget for the following:

• Souvenirs from the UF bookstore and fieldtrips
• Transportation: cost for travel to and from Gainesville are the responsibility of the students and their families.
• Dorm equipment: bedding, toiletries 

About Financial Aid/ Scholarships

Limited financial aid may be available for students attending a Florida high school. Financial Aid Applications will be sent if the student is accepted into the program. Students are encouraged to apply regardless of ability to pay.  

The ability to pay is not considered in the program selection process, but students may have the non-refundable deposit waived if the request for financial aid is submitted with the application.

The number of need-based scholarships vary year-to-year, and we cannot predict how many awards will be granted each year; however, we try very hard to help students with a strong financial need attend our program.  Students are encouraged to also secure their own funding.  Students have had success in receiving fully funded scholarships from local businesses, corporations, service and community organizations, and personal donations.

About Applying

Applicants must create an account in our online application portal in order to apply for any student programs offered by UF CPET. The online application portal is www.ufcpet.smapply.us.  All components are submitted using the online application process unless noted.  After all the below components of the application are completed, student must log into their account and SUBMIT their application. We strongly warn against last-minute submissions due to frequent technical hurdles that can easily make an application late, leading to rejection.

Students currently in the 9th grade are eligible for RISE.  There are no exceptions to the grade policy.  There is no minimum GPA to apply.

Non-Florida and international students may apply for RISE.  A limited number of spots are designated for students from non-Florida high schools.  If accepted, students and their families are responsible for all travel arrangements and/or travel requirements such as passports/Visa, etc.

The RISE Application consists of:

• User Information: Provide applicant and parent/guardian contact information.
• Application Form: Provide additional information such as student involvement and responding to the writing prompt
  • In 300-400 words, discuss how you can improve food security in your school and community.
  • This prompt has the option to be submitted as a video or written response. If you would like to submit as a video, please upload a link to an unlisted YouTube video and the video is limited to 1 minutes and 30 seconds.
• Teacher Endorsement Form:  One Online Teacher Endorsement Forms from a high-school or college-level math, science, research, or computer science teacher or mentor are recommended. 
  • Endorsers are asked to evaluate the student’s maturity, collaborative learning capacity, and ability to work in a university-level research lab. Applicants should think carefully about which teachers know the student the best and will be able to evaluate according to the criteria.
  • Endorsers will receive an automated request from noreply@smapply.io once a student has requested an endorsement in their online application. However, we recommend that students contact their teacher prior to filling out the online request.
• High School Transcript:  Submit your unofficial transcript with grades till this past fall semester via the application portal (Either as a .PDF, .JPG, or .PNG). An official transcript may be asked of you to submit at a later point in time once accepted. 
• Application Fee:  The link to pay the Application Fee is available on the application in the fee payment step.  Students attending a Florida High School who qualify may request an Application Fee Waiver. 
• *Task Approval Process: In the application portal, students are required to acknowledge the requirement of each of these “offline” portions by clicking “submit for approval”. The CPET office will log receipt of each requirement.  After the requirement is logged, students will need to complete the section by clicking “complete” in the on-line portal.  After all portions are complete, students can then submit their full application.

Notifications

FYI has a rolling admission process which means applications will continue to be reviewed until the program is filled. We start reviewing applications in March. Please note that Florida Youth Institute has a different application process than our other programs. The three possible decisions are as follows: preliminary invitation, waitlist, or not invited.   If you are a good fit for the program based on your application, you will be given a Preliminary Invitation. Preliminary Invitation is contingent on writing and submitting a World Food Prize Essay by End of April.

Students will receive automated emails from noreply@smapply.io to the “Student’s E-mail Address” provided on the application confirming his or her application in complete. It is the student’s responsibility to provide a working email address and check that email address regularly for communication from the program. 

Once the first round of applications is received, they are reviewed by our Selection Committee.  This review process can take 3 or more weeks, so please be patient.  Each member of our committee carefully reads each application, transcript, and teacher endorsement we receive.  This process takes time.  Frequent calls can slow this process.  Once we have reached a decision, we will send out an email through our online application portal. 

Participant Selection: Notification of Selection will be made via email to the student email address provided on the application. Failure to respond to email in a timely manner may result in the student being placed on the wait list.

• Students invited to participate are required to respond to the invitation within 14 days of the email being sent.  
• Students invited to attend, but not ready to commit to may defer his or her invitation.

The student may be placed on a waitlist if not invited during the first time their application is reviewed.

• This is an active waitlist, and applications will continue to be reviewed until the program is filled.  Students must confirm their place on the waitlist to continue being considered.  The waitlist is not ranked.

If you are not selected for the program, we wish you luck on your future endeavors. We do not provide or give comments or feedback on applications

The UCPET staff abide by FERPA and University application standards and therefore do not discuss applications, applicant data (individual or aggregated), nor selection with students or parents.  Once an application is submitted, students may view and download, but not edit, their application through the online portal.

*Please note that applicants, not their parents, receive all correspondence from our office.  It is the student’s responsibility to provide a working email address and check that email address regularly for communication from UF CPET.  Failure to respond to email in a timely manner may result in the student being placed on the wait list. At any time, applicants and parent “collaborators” may check on acceptance status in the on-line portal. *

World Food Prize Essay

If you are a good fit for the program based on your application, you will be given a Preliminary Invitation. Preliminary Invitation is contingent on writing and submitting a World Food Prize Essay by April 15th, 2026. 

The University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, in partnership with the World Food Prize, requires all students attending the Florida Youth Institute to write a 1500-2000 word APA or MLA formatted essay. During FYI all participants will share their findings and solutions with a panel of experts and their fellow participants, and ultimately contend for the opportunity to attend the Global Youth Institute in Des Moines, Iowa in October of 2026. In addition, students completing the essay and attending FYI will be named Borlaug Scholars and become eligible for United State Department of Agriculture fellowships and international internships. Students attending FYI will be eligible to earn scholarships upon admission to UF as a freshman or transfer student and enrollment in one of the 23 majors in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

Steps to writing the essay:    

• Choose a developing country
• Research a typical family in that country
• Select a topic (plants, water scarcity, renewable energy, animal health, climate volatility, sustainable agriculture, animal agriculture, spoilage and waste, water and sanitation, dietary diseases, malnutrition, infectious diseases, populations, conflict, human rights, education, or infrastructure)
• Analyze its impact on food
• Explore and propose solutions
• Additional instructions will be provided upon acceptance into the Florida Youth Institute
• Students are expected to submit a bibliography (excluded from the word limit)

If you receive a preliminary invitation and submit the World Food Prize Essay by the specified deadline you will be invited to attend the Florida Youth Institute and will have 10 days to accept your invitation to the program.