SAPELO ISLAND, Ga. — Joshua McCloud had never put his feet in the ocean. But here he was on a hot Southern afternoon, a shy 16-year-old from Atlanta with a love of science finally experiencing the wonders of the sea.

Joshua was one of six urban teenagers visiting this remote barrier island for a few days and nights last week, boys who had barely any experience in the wilderness but on whose shoulders the future of environmental science might rest. The boys are among 100 students from 22 states chosen by the Nature Conservancy for an intensive summertime month of working outdoors.

This is not the kind of program where a poor young adult from a city goes to a farm for a week to get a glimpse of something beyond a high-rise. Nor is it simply a way to address the condition known as nature-deficit disorder that is said to afflict children of the digital age.

This is an effort to create scientists and engineers who do not look like most of those already in the field.