We were digging up and replacing irrigation hydrants.
When learning a new workplace, mistakes are bound to happen. I was tasked with mowing a field of cover crops using a flail mower tractor. It was a large field that required many passes with the mower, so another intern on a smaller flail mower came to join me. He asked if I needed help. I tried shouting over the noise of the mower that I was fine, but I couldn’t project my voice far enough for him to hear. I gave a thumbs-down, trying to signal that I didn’t need help. Just as I did this, the tractor screeched to a halt. At the same time, the attached mower jumped up as something wrapped around it and started smoking. I had mowed over a hose that had been hidden and forgotten by someone who had mowed earlier. It wrapped around the mower many times, incapacitating the machine and destroying the hose. I lowered my head and told the other intern that I did, in fact, need help. He finished mowing while my supervisor and I cut and pried at the lay-flat to free the mower.
I interned in the summer of 2025 at the University of Maryland’s Terp Farm Project in Upper Marlboro. As an environmental science major, I have always been interested in the foundational level of agriculture, and Terp Farm was my way of participating firsthand in sustainable practices. This internship gave me experience working outside on a forty-hour work week. Being exposed to that environment gave me confidence that I can handle any task that comes my way. I coordinated with a large staff of 11 interns and learned general maintenance and fieldwork. We assisted in research by collecting, weighing, and transporting thirty-five-pound (and heavier) watermelons across a field in 110-degree weather. I gained experience with medium-scale vegetable growing operations and assisted with many small research projects. Most of our internship was spent on tasks like mowing, planting, weeding, harvesting, and processing produce.
When tasked with mowing, we used wide-area mowers to clear large spaces. Then, we used zero-turn mowers and weed-wackers to cut close to buildings and obstacles. Through teamwork and specialized tasks, we were able to maintain an entire farm in half a workday. To plant a field, we received seeds and spacing instructions from our supervisor. We used a dibbler and transplanted by hand or employed a mechanical transplanter. Most of the weeding on the farm was done through knife weeding or pulling weeds. Some weeding tasks took up to four full days under the sun to completely clear a plot. Harvesting and processing required careful coordination to avoid skipping rows or repeating work. We had strict rules about what was harvested and processed, and decisions often had to be made in a split second.
My experience at Terp Farm strengthened my confidence that environmental science is the right career path for me. I am interested in pursuing more advanced field research and exploring the policy side of environmental science. This internship provided me with many foundational skills that will allow me to excel in any environmental field.
