There have been a lot of "wow" moments in the biotechnology labs at Seminole Ridge High School this year.

There was the day the Business Development Board toured the labs, and there was the day that Scripps Vice President Harry Orf taught a lab for the students via the school's satellite hookup.

And there was last week when science teachers from two other local high schools took a look at the labs, the greenhouse and the software that comprises the school system's first biotechnology program.

"This is amazing," said Eric Dybas, a chemistry teacher at Spanish River High in Boca Raton. "This is how you engage kids in learning."

The 72 freshmen and sophomores who have dabbled through agribusiness, forensic evidence, biotech career exploration and even biotech stocks, will never know that science labs weren't always like this.

Next year, there will be 96 spots in the popular program. The students will be chosen by lottery, like it's done in Palm Beach County's other attractive magnet programs.

During the past year as teachers and administrators created the program, students have learned just how much is behind the term "biotech."

"The first day of school I asked them to tell me what biotech is," said Lyn Slygh, the lead teacher in the biotech academy. "You should have heard some of the answers I got. All they know is CSI," the crime scene television drama, she said.

Seminole Ridge students in the magnet's first year spend only one class period in biotechnology class.

While the class doesn't count as a science, students discovered that biotech covers a variety of subjects: biology, chemistry, math, writing and computer skills.

On any given day, they might be in the lab, where microwave ovens have replaced the old Bunsen Burners and hot plates. One of the labs they did this year was on analyzing stomach contents, Slygh said. The students learned to test for biological molecules that identified proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

Other days are spent in the "Distance Learning Lab" where a Dell computer sits in front of each chair, a trio of giant screens in the front.

"On one screen they could see the instructor in his lab from, let's say, Scripps," said John Walker, Seminole Ridge's academy coordinator. "The other screen would show a close-up of an experiment.

"When we had the Business Development Board out here a couple months ago, we actually piped into Scripps in Jupiter," he said.

Outside in the greenhouse are the academy's "tomatoes that took over the world," Slygh said. They're also growing jalapenos and cilantro.

"We're going to make salsa," Slygh said. "They have to learn to take a product to market."

In another room is the $500,000 software-based cooperative learning program that has amazed the visiting science teachers.

The Pathways program from Pitsco, a Pittsburg, Kan.-based company, presents teams of students with lessons on DNA genetics, crime scene forensics, agri-biotech and sensory imaging. Groups of students would learn a piece of information that the team later would bring together to solve a problem presented to them.

"It combines technology, the hands-on learning and the cooperative education components," Slygh said.