Lillian Kahl, an IAA Sustainable Agriculture major, is helping build the food supply at the university’s Campus Pantry with thousands of canned goods. But first, she’s using those cans to help build the Pantry’s visibility among students on campus.
Kahl is the recipient of a $4,000 grant that enabled her to procure the canned food as building material for a project geared toward bridging an awareness gap between students and their school’s provider of emergency food to members of the campus community in need. Kahl saw an opportunity to draw a connection between her fellow Terps and the Campus Pantry by transforming the food cans into the embodiment of UMD school spirit: Testudo.
Kahl recently used more than 1,000 of those cans as building blocks to construct the university’s mascot. The large Testudo “canstruction,” completed last week, is on display at the South Campus Dining Hall. Kahl will ultimately donate those cans (and more) to the UMD Campus Pantry.
The first-year IAA student’s path to her highly visible Testudo project began in the months leading up to her arrival at UMD. While working for a Maryland-based construction contractor, Kahl was awarded a scholarship by the Women in Associated Builders and Contractors – part of an industry trade association. Kahl said her winning proposal to design an object built with canned goods was inspired in part by Canstruction, a food charity that hosts competitions “showcasing colossal structures made out of full cans of food,” according to the organization’s website.
Kahl’s winning project reflects an aspect of the IAA’s Sustainable Agriculture program: meeting the challenges of future food needs while supporting our communities. She said that over the years she’s seen the importance of bringing awareness to people and living sustainably. Kahl decided to return to school to study sustainable agriculture following a career as both a construction contractor and as an arborist. While searching for the right academic program, she discovered a natural fit between the IAA and her professional goals.
What is Kahl learning at the IAA that will help her in the future? “Everything,” she said. From learning the characteristics of sustainable agriculture and plant sciences to the basics of starting her own business, Kahl remarked that “every one of my classes is very applicable.”
“That’s the beauty of this program,” according to Kahl. “For someone who wants to learn how to get their little business started or their goal achieved, this is perfect for that.”
Kahl wraps up her first semester as an IAA student having left a sustainable agriculture mark in a conspicuous part of campus. The South Campus Dining Hall’s “canstructed” Testudo will be on display until the end of the semester, after which the canned components will go to students, faculty and staff who need food security. Kahl is adding to her Campus Pantry donation an extra 1,000+ canned items that she’s procured with her scholarship funds.
Until Kahl’s creation is disassembled, throngs of students will pass by it and learn about food security on campus in the process. Moreover, they’ll have a new option to practice the UMD tradition of rubbing Testudo’s nose. “They could rub a couple of cans,” Kahl said with a laugh.
