Ten senior high school students (grades 10-12) participate in the 12 week summer commuter program and academic year follow-up activities. Students attend 50-50 hours of classroom sessions focusing on animal behavior, conservation biology, zoo biology, and research methodology and participate in seminars and field trips. Each student develops and executes an independent research study with guidance from the program senior personnel as well as from one-to-one contact with individual zoo staff mentors (curators, zoologists, and zoo keepers). Students present their study findings through oral slide presentations prepare research papers published in the Zooschool Journal. Follow-up activities include presentations to secondary schools and science fair competition. Project senior personnel include the Director of Biological Programs, Conservation Biologist, Education Biologist, and Curator of Interpretive Programs at the Minnesota Zoological Garden.
