Week Five with Extension by Daniel Gustitis

Pictured is me standing behind our activity at the 4H event. We were showing kids which part of the flowers turn into the fruit, and how that process happens. They were all pretty receptive, asked great questions, and walked away with handfuls of healthy food. Definitely a successful day!

This week I had my first 4H experience, helping with an expo in our office. It was great to see the youth so excited about so many things. Neith and I were showing them how a flower becomes a fruit, there were others showing them about robotics, and many other stations that were giving these children some hands-on experience. Investing in the youth is so important, and it felt really good to be able to offer my abilities to add to what amazing work 4H does for them.

I also had the opportunity to return to Dr. Izursa’s aquaponics lab on the UMD Campus Wednesday. While there, I was able to help a graduate student, Jonah, on his research. He is doing research for NASA, looking into the possibility of using aquaponics for long term space travel, for instance, a manned mission to Mars. Jonah showed me his procedures for keeping the water, the fish, the bacteria, and the plants healthy. I will be going down there every week to help in whatever way I can. I will be testing water quality, and next week Dr. Izursa said we will be doing some research in the green houses, which I am very excited about.

Pictured is Jonah’s research. I was and will be helping him keep data on the water quality. I learned how to use many new pieces of equipment with him, and am excited to be a part of such amazing research. 

The aquaponics research seems very interesting because if we can grow food in space, we can certainly grow food in urban areas with conditions less favorable to conventional farming. Being able to ask questions and talk with someone doing the research is very insightful, and has helped me gain more understanding on the feasibility of aquaponics and the hurdles still remaining to be able to attempt its usage more broadly.

As we have been talking about leadership and communication I wanted to make sure I mentioned how much I appreciate Neith’s mentorship. We were able to sit down this week and talk about what I have gained from this internship, and where I would like to go with my experience. We talked about further schooling, job opportunities, and many insights she has from being in her position. I have already submitted an application for a job in the field. My short term goal would be to find something agriculture related by the time this internship is over, and be able to continue to contribute my labor, time, and energy to a community I have come to appreciate.

My final experience of the week was a trip to Upper Marlboro for a look at research on rainwater harvesting. The research is only in its planning stages, but even that was great to see, as it gave me a much better picture of how this work is going to be done. There is a lot of planning, resources, and labor that go into creating and maintaining such a design, but everyone seems very excited about the work they are doing, and I am more than happy to be able to be an audience to it. Neith said my internship will be over before any conclusions are drawn, but I told her I will definitely be looking out for the research when it is published.

All in all this was a very insightful week full of new information, and experiences that I look forward to continuing.