2024

  Hi, my name is Sam Denherder, I am 19 years old and currently live in Church Hill MD. I have just graduated from Chesapeake College with my Associates degree and plan on going to Salisbury next year to get my Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science. My goals are to stay involved with my passion for working with plants and animals. To extend my knowledge on different fields of Agriculture. And to find future career options that revolve around Agriculture and/or Environmental Science that I can go into after and during college. I have been aware of the University of Maryland Extension for some time now mainly because of high school Agriculture classes at Queens Anne’s high school and from college field trips to the Research Centers. That is what led me to pursue this internship and further my experience and knowledge in Extension. My internship is under Dr. Kurt Vollmer and Dr. Dwayne Joseph and usually located at the Wye Research and Education Center on the Eastern Shore. I wil...

  Hello, my name is Mikaela Seltzer, I also go by Mia. One of my favorite quotes is by Robin Williams “You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” My goals for this internship are to learn all I can from this opportunity, gain hands-on experience working  in agriculture, conduct field research, collect and organize data, and function in an office setting. I am working out of the Talbot, Dorchester, and Wye REC offices for my internship. My mentors are Nicole Firellino, Shannon Potter Dill, and Emily Zobel. I will be helping Emily with an experiment on organic pesticide use on squash, collard greens, and other vegetables. I will be helping her with some plant variety trials, recording, and sorting through data. I will learn administrative skills from Shannon and how to sort survey data and find broken links. Because I am working with three different mentors, I will learn so much from all of them. I will have the chance to learn more about research and ...

  🖤Andrea’s Adventures🖤 Start Date: 5/28 Hello, My name is Andrea Campos and I am so excited to be an intern this summer in the Frederick, Howard and Montgomery County Cluster! A fun fact about me is that I have assisted a family friend who is a dairy veterinarian- in three different cow births. I am a recent graduate from Rutgers University with a degree in Entomology. I have some background in Animal Science and urban agriculture and I am so excited to begin my journey interning at the University of Maryland Extension program. My mentor for the Frederick County extension office is Mark Townsend and he has been so much fun to work with this past week- I am blown away by his knowledge and passion for Agronomic and I can’t wait to keep learning from him! My mentor for the Howard County extension office is Nathan Glenn and he is so cool and is so inspiring to see and hear his journey in extension! I cannot wait to go scouting with him and learn together from growers and farmers i...

Hello! My name is Abi Anderson. I will be interning at the Anne Arundel County Extension office working under Dave Myers on the Anne Arundel Urban Farming Research Clinic. I am a rising junior at Salisbury University and I major in Environmental Biology, with a minor in Art. I have not decided on a specific career to pursue yet, but I am interested in entering the plant biology field. Through my major, I have been interested in learning more about the evolution and genetics of plants and animals. With my minor, I hope to focus on my studies on the Graphic Design program. With my education in the art department I hope to grow and foster my artistic skills in college, and throughout my lifetime. Through this internship opportunity I hope to grow my professionalism, especially with writing emails. I would also like to learn how to work in an office setting, and how to collaborate and communicate with coworkers. On my first day of work, my mentor and his colleague gave me a tour of the pro...

watermelon drone experiment My name is Ciera Gardner, I am a Senior at UMES majoring in General Agriculture. My goals for the semester are to improve my professional skills, time management, and work ethic. I want to reach these goals in order to provide the best help and support to my current and future employers. I am working under both Sarah Hirsh and Haley Sater at the Somerset and Wicomico Extension office. My internship involves doing field work with watermelon, blueberries, blackberries and other crops. My internship also consists of organizing samples, data taking, and video editing. Overall, this internship is a great opportunity for me to improve my skills in agricultural research. The information that I will gain from this internship will also fuel my own passions for gardening and I will be able to maintain a garden while sharing my knowledge to other people in of food or a hobby.  During this week, I worked with two other people and my mentor to map a watermelon field ...

  I am Cai Diggs, a student at the University of Maryland majoring in environmental science and technology with a focus in ecological technology design. I have several career goals relating to agriculture and natural resources. Firstly, I plan to be involved in the implementation of sustainable food systems in urban areas. This can include aquaponics, vertical farms, hydroponics, and more. I want to largely be focused on the technological and design aspect of these systems, working to optimize the efficiency of agricultural processes in urban areas. Secondly, I wish to be involved in the development of sustainable food infrastructure in urban areas. This can include rooftop gardens and food living walls, areas which serve the purpose of providing the typical benefits of green walls and green spaces but also providing fresh produce to local populations. For this internship I will be spending a large amount of time with Dr. Izursa, an extension aquaponic program sponsor, at the Unive...

My name is Nicholas Olson and I am a rising senior at the University of Maryland - College Park. I am majoring in Environmental Science and Policy with a concentration in Wildlife Ecology and Management. I have always been an outdoorsy person which helped me choose my major; so future generations can appreciate the same resources that I have. I have always loved science and working with my hands, so I thought that environmental science was the perfect way to combine the two.  The research project I will be working on this summer is the alternative urban food provisioning networks (AUFPNs) project. We will be looking at ways of food self-provisioning in underserved communities. Urban agriculture has always been a topic that interested me because it shows the evolution of how humans interact with their environment. Along with agriculture, the project includes fishing as a way of acquiring food. Fishing has also been a hobby of mine ever since I was a little kid. These two research to...

       My PALS project presentation from the spring semester, designing a community garden/gathering space for Prince George’s Community College. Hello! My name is Bridget Duffy, I am a rising sophomore at the University of Maryland. I am on the two year Sustainable Agriculture track at the Institute of Applied Agriculture. I am really passionate about equitable food access, and urban growing spaces, and one day I would love a career in extension! My internship is located in the Baltimore City Extension Office, with Neith Little as my mentor.  Our main research project will be mapping food self-provisioning networks around Baltimore City. This includes both growers and fishers, who contribute to theirs and their community’s food supply. For growers, we will be able to set up interviews but a lot of them will be impromptu, knocking on doors and asking if they are interested. We will be interviewing them about their experience growing for them and their famil...

  Image: April’s goat, Sage, who we brought to the local elementary school. Hi everyone! My name is Kaity Deaner and I am a rising senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, majoring in Nutrition and Food Science with a concentration in dietetics. In the future, I aim to attend graduate school to obtain my Master’s degree in nutrition, and I hope to be accepted into a dietetic internship near the DMV area. As for my career goals, I intend to become a registered dietitian and work within the community. Over the next ten weeks, I will be interning at Cecil County’s Extension Office under the guidance of April Barczewski and Beverly Jackey. April is the 4-H Youth Development Agent for Cecil County, and Beverly is the Family and Consumer Sciences Agent for Cecil, Kent, and Queen Anne’s Counties.  With April, I will be involved in various 4-H-related events and activities, including helping with the Cecil County Fair. This week, for example, April and I visited the Boys a...

This image captures me at the University of Maryland Campus Farm during the most recent “Ag Day,” known by the campus as Maryland Day, showing my heifer, Fauna. I worked with Fauna for about 3 weeks beforehand as much as I could to get her ready for the livestock show. Fauna and I left the day as Grand Champion Showman because of all the hard work and teamwork! R aven is an Animal Science, Pre-Professional student attending the University of Maryland and entering her junior year in the upcoming fall semester. After moving to Howard County right before high school, Raven joined 4-H and began involving herself in any project she could. By the end of her high school career, she was the President of her 4-H club and FFA chapter as well as an exhibitor in Horse and Pony, Beef, Swine, Goats, and many Indoor projects at her fair. Currently, Raven strives to represent the agricultural community through various clubs and organizations. Some of her current accomplishments are being President of ...

Hello my name is Cambria Snyder, I am an undergraduate at West Virginia University Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design where I am majoring in horticulture. My goal is to graduate with my bachelor’s degree in the spring of 2025 and start a master’s degree the following fall. In the spring of 2023, I graduated from Garrett College with an associate’s degree in General Studies. As a Garrett Laker, I was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. Through my time as a Mountaineer, I was inducted into the Honor Society of Agriculture, Gamma Sigma Delta. I enjoy the outdoors, expanding my knowledge of botany, and time with my two Australian shepherds; Teddy and Macie. As a youth, I was a member of the RedHouse 4-H club and Oakland FFA chapter. Being in the 4-H, extension has always been a familiar aspect to me. For my future career, I believe I would love a job working in extension.  4-H crafts with kids This is an afterschool activity that allows kids the oppor...