While most students begin packing their belongings to head home for the summer, University of Maryland student Tara Strasser was mentally preparing to stay in College Park to extract DNA and harvest wheat for the summer. Her internship took place at the Research Plant Growth Facility/research greenhouse complex, where Strasser gathered data on crops, made her own fertilizer from scratch, and performed common greenhouse procedures.
An Agriculture Forward student who started at the Institute of Applied Agriculture in fall 2018, Strasser believes it was a very rewarding internship where she benefitted from experienced professionals who share her career interests. Strasser’s internship gets her a credit closer to the end goal . . . GRADUATION!
Strasser, a Sustainable Agriculture major at the Institute of Applied Agriculture, grew up in Millersville, Maryland, never dreaming she would ever pursue a career in agriculture, but she found the interest once she hit college. During her internship she had many important responsibilities, such as cleaning up chemicals she didn’t spill, learning how to properly irrigate greenhouse plants, and learning how to take pictures of DNA samples through a microscope. Once she completed her internship Strasser advised “don’t mix your business with friends,” meaning that having the right mindset in and around your workplace, community, studio, greenhouse, workroom is important.
While working at her internship, Strasser helped graduate and PhD students with different aspects of their research. Strasser had to make sure she kept her workspace clean and kept everything separated as to avoid contamination. Even though this was tedious, it was an important skill that she believes will help her at any future job. Strasser’s IAA advisor, Heather McHale, noted, “Tara was very well suited for this internship because she has great focus and attention to detail--both of which are necessary for being part of a scientific study. Every little task--even when it's simple or repetitive--has to be carried out accurately or completely in order to produce reliable data. Working in the lab and the greenhouse allowed her to get a clear picture of how a study like this one is conducted, which will be useful to her as she continues with her studies.”
All of Strasser’s endeavors and hard work over the summer will allow her to continue her time at the University of Maryland and apply what she has learned in a positive way. She is continuing her stay at UMD and feels more confident and passionate about her career than she ever has. She shall continue her second year with the major of Environmental Science and Policy and shall come out on top in the end game.
