Sam Denherder

The University of Maryland campus and residency tour last week was very fun and informative, especially with the group leadership seminars on both days. Mr. Alexander used lots of games and exercises to make his points about clear communication, working as a team, and growing as a person. I especially thought the mice and cheese game was very effective and was perfect to show how important clear communication and properly working as a team is in order to succeed in the job. The next days seminar with Mr. Silas was also very informative, and I learned a lot about the different forms of leadership as well as beneficial networking in the workplace. I liked how he made it very clear that in some form, everyone is a leader, and that there are many different ways people can be leaders in their own ways. The second part of his seminar showed how important networking is in order to grow your career, and also showed that proper networking is beneficial for everyone. Personally, I feel that I struggle with networking and clear communication because of my lack of being a public speaker. This is something that I am trying to work on throughout this internship, because I know how beneficial it is for my future. Overall, I thought the campus and residency tour at UMD was very beneficial and I loved seeing all the different labs and projects on campus as well.

Dr. Vollmer, the Horticulture crew and the interns at the Wye REC are harvesting blackberries and rating the different varieties for taste for fun.

Dr. Dwayne Joseph and I were measuring hemp plants at the Upper Marlboro REC to see the difference in different outdoor growing situations with different weed management.

This is a picture of the mice and cheese game with Mr. Alexander during his leadership workshop at the campus tour to show clear communication and team building.

This is a Rhinoceros Beetle that Dr. Vollmer found right outside of the pesticide building at the Wye REC.