What do you hope to learn by working with the SF?
From working on the Student Farm, I hope to attain a better understanding of the inner-workings of the farm and the processes that make it so efficient. I have a bit of a different take since I am coming into this internship with a degree plan in Materials Science and Engineering, but overall I have key interests in gaining a deeper understanding for the workings of the farm. My goals include understanding the flaws within the various systems within the farm from CSA packing, to data recording, to proportions of net v.s. Gross sales and seeing where improvements can be made. The knowledge that I have gained throughout the class that is paired with this internship will greatly help me achieve these goals by aiding in my ability to find the root of the issue, or what the best approach is for a solution. In doing this I hope to find new, and inventive ways to move towards even more sustainable agriculture and to gain stronger ties within the community and my Student Farm colleagues.
What does community mean to you, and where do you see opportunities to engage and improve your community’s food system?
To me community is a group of people or organizations who have common goals that they work towards together. Our Student Farm community is one that works towards providing safe and healthy food to our community while also supporting sustainable agricultural practices. I had the pleasure of tabeling at the recent Earth Day Celebration at Innovation Park this past Thursday where I got to meet many of our community partners. This was an amazing experience to get to engage with others who have small/local farms and businesses and to see the practices that they use. At the Student Farm I will be able to make a positive impact on our community through my position as a Community Partner. This part of my job will allow me to immerse myself and learn about how other farms work and operate while also networking with our neighbors.
What does leadership mean to you? What are the qualities of a good leader? How do you embody them? How are you working on improving in leadership right now?
To me, leadership is the ability to delegate tasks, while taking into consideration others needs and keeping a respective manner. I think one of the most important qualities of a leader is respect. Without this, whoever you are leading will generally not have respect for you either and that just creates an unhealthy working/learning environment. In taking into consideration everyone’s point of view and making a decision based on true or factual information, you are keeping an authoritative standpoint while still being respectful. Task delegation is another strong quality of a leader. If you are unable to ask others for help, or able to evenly and fairly delegate tasks, it will be very hard to accomplish what needs to be done. I, personally, try and focus on making sure that I am always taking into consideration how my actions may affect others, and trying to be respectful of their positions. I think my biggest flaw as a leader is my want to do everything. Coming from a scientific background I get caught up on little tasks, wanting to fully understand the nature of what’s going on or collect in depth data, when that isn’t always necessary. I am trying to improve my task delegation in order to focus more on the big picture and only on the little details when necessary.