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From CAPS to the lab to the vineyard

Laila Carter was a 2016 graduate from St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Laila was enrolled in CAPS Global Food Industries (now Future of Food) during Fall 2016 and CAPS Bioscience during Spring 2017. Her CAPS experiences were transformative, leading to two internships and to her current major in food science with a chemistry focus at the Food Science Institute at Kansas State University. She has a particular interest sustainability and food trade policy, examining how science and scientific data drive food policy.

Laila belives the research, internship and networking opportunities are what sets the CAPS experience apart. While at CAPS she learned about the science, business and politics of food. She put her learning into action during her Spring semester internship in the microbiology lab at K-State Olathe. Each day on her way to the lab Liala passed a vinyard. That serendipitous encounter sparked an interest in winemaking and through extensive networking, she secured a Fall 2017 internship at the Wölffer Estate Vineyard in the Hamptons working under their the head winemaker. Laila will be conducting quality analysis while helping with the Fall harvest. She will return to K State in the Spring to resume her studies.