This summer Harvard will host Quest Scholars, a mentoring program that offers low-income high school students the opportunity to develop leadership and public service skills while studying environmental issues.

Quest is modeled after a summer program that started at Stanford University and is the founders' first step to making the program national.

Like its Stanford counterpart, Quest will focus on academics, college preparation, personal development and public service.

At the end of the summer, its 20 high school participants will return to their home communities and implement a public-service project.

"The program doesn't supply the motivation, we supply the know-how. We help them remove the obstacles in their way," said Michael J. McCullough, the co-founder of the Stanford program.

Quest expects over 1,000 high school applicants from all over the East Coast and hopes to hire Harvard undergraduate and graduate students to staff the program.

In addition to housing Quest students and staff, Harvard has offered a number of resources to the program. Dari Shalon, director of the Harvard Center for Genomics Research, serves as president of the newly founded Harvard Quest chapter.

Shalon worked with University President Neil L. Rudenstine and Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles to establish Quest at Harvard as an ongoing summer program. This summer Shalon will give lectures for the students, while other faculty members will be asked to teach and participate in the program.

"This is a major investment in students that have been under-served and gives them a chance to advance within society and to develop leadership skills," Shalon said.

The director of Quest, Dana A. Cavrieli noted the high level of talent the underprivileged participants bring to the program.

"These students are the best of the best without even realizing it," Cavrieli said.

Brian S. Anderson '00 participated in the Stanford program as a junior in high school. The program gave the pre-med senior an opportunity to first develop his interest in medicine.

"It gave me a chance to explore and meet certain people I would never have had a chance to meet before," Anderson said.

Anderson said the Stanford program staff was influential in his choice of colleges.

"Michael McCullough became a mentor for me," Anderson said. "He gave me guidance and advised me to come to Harvard. He talked to me about leaving home and exploring the world myself."