Q:

I can't get my text to be italic on a poster

There is a few words that I want to make italic/ emphasized on a poster. I have tried \textit{State}, \it{State}, {\itshape State}, and \emph{State} and nothing works. I am using \usepackage{garamond} in my preamble. I don't know if that's what's affecting it or not. Please help.
Here's some of the file:
Thank you! Here's the file:
\documentclass[landscape,custom]{sciposter}
\usepackage[all,poly]{xy}
\usepackage{epsfig}
\usepackage{amsmath,amsfonts,graphpap,setspace}
\usepackage{amssymb,amsthm}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,decorations,backgrounds}
\usetikzlibrary{plotmarks}

\theoremstyle{plain}
\newtheorem{thm}{Theorem}
\newtheorem{prop}[thm]{Proposition}
\newtheorem{lem}[thm]{Lemma}
\newtheorem{cor}[thm]{Corollary}
\newtheorem{problem}[thm]{Problem}
\newtheorem{alg}[thm]{Algorithm}
\newtheorem{conj}{Conjecture}
\theoremstyle{definition}
\newtheorem{defn}[thm]{Definition}
%\newtheorem*{remark}{Remark}
\newtheorem{exmp}[thm]{Example}
\definecolor{BoxCol}{rgb}{0,.44,.53}
\definecolor{SectionCol}{rgb}{1,1,1}

\usepackage{garamond}

\bibliographystyle{plain}

\title{Predicting the Future of Coral Reefs: A Simulation Approach}
\author{Chelsey Beese}
\institute{Department of Mathematics and Statistics}
\date{}
\leftlogo[1.5]{CCU}
\conference{{\bf Math 490}}

\setlength{\parindent}{2em}
\setlength{\parskip}{2ex}
\setlength{\topsep}{2ex}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\begin{multicols}{3}

\section{Model Set Up and Initialization}

The spatial domain consists of a 2500 by 2500 grid of $1 \mbox{ cm}^2$ 
regular hexagonal cells covering a total area of $625 \mbox{ m}^2$.
Each cell is inhabited by a single organism, denoted by the
%HERE'S WHERE I WANT THE ITALICS%
\texit{cell state}, which can vary over time based on stochastic rules and
the inhabitants of neighboring cells. Cell states are updated on a yearly
basis. The cell size reflects the approximate size of a single coral polyp
rather than imposing an unnatural scale on the system \cite{Soong1993}.
Corals are colonial organisms composed of a group of individual fleshy
polyps that are connected by a layer of thin connective tissue and secrete
a common calcareous skeleton. Therefore, a single organism can span
multiple cells.

\end{multicols}

\end{document}

Sorry everyone, I'm really new to all of this!

A:

I managed to get your code to work by making the two following edits:

I couldn't find the garamond package, but I did manage to find and use the ebgaramond package instead.
As @Werner pointed out, you mean to use the command \textit and not the misspelling \texit.

Here is the complete code:
\documentclass[landscape,custom]{sciposter}
\usepackage[all,poly]{xy}
\usepackage{epsfig}
\usepackage{amsmath,amsfonts,graphpap,setspace}
\usepackage{amssymb,amsthm}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,decorations,backgrounds}
\usetikzlibrary{plotmarks}

\theoremstyle{plain}
\newtheorem{thm}{Theorem}
\newtheorem{prop}[thm]{Proposition}
\newtheorem{lem}[thm]{Lemma}
\newtheorem{cor}[thm]{Corollary}
\newtheorem{problem}[thm]{Problem}
\newtheorem{alg}[thm]{Algorithm}
\newtheorem{conj}{Conjecture}
\theoremstyle{definition}
\newtheorem{defn}[thm]{Definition}
%\newtheorem*{remark}{Remark}
\newtheorem{exmp}[thm]{Example}
\definecolor{BoxCol}{rgb}{0,.44,.53}
\definecolor{SectionCol}{rgb}{1,1,1}

\usepackage{ebgaramond}

\bibliographystyle{plain}

\title{Predicting the Future of Coral Reefs: A Simulation Approach}
\author{Chelsey Beese}
\institute{Department of Mathematics and Statistics}
\date{}
%\leftlogo[1.5]{CCU}
\conference{{\bf Math 490}}

\setlength{\parindent}{2em}
\setlength{\parskip}{2ex}
\setlength{\topsep}{2ex}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\begin{multicols}{3}

\section{Model Set Up and Initialization}

The spatial domain consists of a 2500 by 2500 grid of $1 \mbox{ cm}^2$ 
regular hexagonal cells covering a total area of $625 \mbox{ m}^2$.
Each cell is inhabited by a single organism, denoted by the
%HERE'S WHERE I WANT THE ITALICS%
\textit{cell state}, which can vary over time based on stochastic rules and
the inhabitants of neighboring cells. Cell states are updated on a yearly
basis. The cell size reflects the approximate size of a single coral polyp
rather than imposing an unnatural scale on the system \cite{Soong1993}.
Corals are colonial organisms composed of a group of individual fleshy
polyps that are connected by a layer of thin connective tissue and secrete
a common calcareous skeleton. Therefore, a single organism can span
multiple cells.

\end{multicols}

\end{document}

Edited
In response to your comment, you are right, I didn't realize that the sciposter class uses the sans serif font family by default.
The following MWE is able to override the default font family to ebgaramond.
\documentclass{sciposter}

\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\rmdefault}
\usepackage{ebgaramond}

\begin{document}

This is a test.

\end{document}

Here is the correct edited code which I also trimmed down:
\documentclass[landscape,custom]{sciposter}

\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\rmdefault}
\usepackage{ebgaramond}

\bibliographystyle{plain}

\title{Predicting the Future of Coral Reefs: A Simulation Approach}
\author{Chelsey Beese}
\institute{Department of Mathematics and Statistics}
\date{}
%\leftlogo[1.5]{CCU}
\conference{{\bf Math 490}}

\setlength{\parindent}{2em}
\setlength{\parskip}{2ex}
\setlength{\topsep}{2ex}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\begin{multicols}{3}

\section{Model Set Up and Initialization}

The spatial domain consists of a 2500 by 2500 grid of $1 \mbox{ cm}^2$ 
regular hexagonal cells covering a total area of $625 \mbox{ m}^2$.
Each cell is inhabited by a single organism, denoted by the
%HERE'S WHERE I WANT THE ITALICS%
\textit{cell state}, which can vary over time based on stochastic rules and
the inhabitants of neighboring cells. Cell states are updated on a yearly
basis. The cell size reflects the approximate size of a single coral polyp
rather than imposing an unnatural scale on the system \cite{Soong1993}.
Corals are colonial organisms composed of a group of individual fleshy
polyps that are connected by a layer of thin connective tissue and secrete
a common calcareous skeleton. Therefore, a single organism can span
multiple cells.

\end{multicols}

\end{document}

