This week I had the opportunity to attend the Campus Research Tour Experience at College Park. I had a great time getting to know the other interns that are working across the state, learning more about UMD research, and developing my leadership skills.
Throughout these tours, the thing that inspired me the most was UMDs efforts to make a difference in the community and on a larger scale. Specifically, I was really interested in NourishNet. This is an app being developed within the Department of Environmental Science & Technology. Its purpose is to address food insecurity and keep fresh food in use. Some features of the app would be to submit food to be donated, provide locations or contacts for people with food insecurity, and verify freshness of food. Not only did I think the technology and idea for this project was very cool, but I was so excited to learn more about ways to make an impact in our community.
One of my favorite activities during this trip was our leadership workshop with Myles Alexander (Maryland Leadership Education and Development Program). We did a few really fun activities that emphasized the importance of communication and highlighted different aspects of leadership and why they are important. We also did a workshop with Antonio Silas (UME Director for Baltimore City office) where we learned what he called the elevator pitch. This was a short pitch where we “sell” ourselves or can talk with people to make important connections. I found this pitch outline to be very helpful for future networking! He also had us come up with a few sentences for what we would have as our leadership philosophy. This is what I came up with:
“I believe it is important to hear the opinions of or needs from all my fellow team members to serve and represent them as best I can. I will be timely and confident with my abilities. I will delegate when necessary and allow others to step into leadership roles to work towards a common goal.”
I had a lot of fun during this workshop and learned a lot about leadership styles. I cannot wait to use what I learned in these workshops in the future.
During this tour I got to see and learn about so many cool things. From the greenhouse with wheat, to aquaponics, and fermentation, there was so much to see! I am grateful for the opportunity to visit and tour UMD and thankful for the professors and others that gave us their time!
Throughout these tours, the thing that inspired me the most was UMDs efforts to make a difference in the community and on a larger scale. Specifically, I was really interested in NourishNet. This is an app being developed within the Department of Environmental Science & Technology. Its purpose is to address food insecurity and keep fresh food in use. Some features of the app would be to submit food to be donated, provide locations or contacts for people with food insecurity, and verify freshness of food. Not only did I think the technology and idea for this project was very cool, but I was so excited to learn more about ways to make an impact in our community.
One of my favorite activities during this trip was our leadership workshop with Myles Alexander (Maryland Leadership Education and Development Program). We did a few really fun activities that emphasized the importance of communication and highlighted different aspects of leadership and why they are important. We also did a workshop with Antonio Silas (UME Director for Baltimore City office) where we learned what he called the elevator pitch. This was a short pitch where we “sell” ourselves or can talk with people to make important connections. I found this pitch outline to be very helpful for future networking! He also had us come up with a few sentences for what we would have as our leadership philosophy. This is what I came up with:
“I believe it is important to hear the opinions of or needs from all my fellow team members to serve and represent them as best I can. I will be timely and confident with my abilities. I will delegate when necessary and allow others to step into leadership roles to work towards a common goal.”
I had a lot of fun during this workshop and learned a lot about leadership styles. I cannot wait to use what I learned in these workshops in the future.
During this tour I got to see and learn about so many cool things. From the greenhouse with wheat, to aquaponics, and fermentation, there was so much to see! I am grateful for the opportunity to visit and tour UMD and thankful for the professors and others that gave us their time!
This is a picture of the poster for NourishNet. There are many good informational pieces on here and I loved learning about its future potential.
This is a picture of an aquaponics system they have put in the hallway for education. I thought the systems that the have with the fish were very interesting, but this one especially! I loved that they recycled an old cooler to house both plants and fish.
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