Dr. Dalma Martinovic-Weigelt and friends sampling from the Bahai farm in Minneapolis
The Biology Department at the University of St. Thomas is committed to integrating research, teaching, and community outreach activities. On Friday December 14 (2012), our new sophomore-level class (Biology 209 – Biology of Sustainability) had a symposium to display student projects from a service-learning lab on sustainable agriculture. The lab was designed to assess soil quality and gardening practices for our community partner, the Youth Farm and Market Project. Youth Farms is a Twin Cities organization that provides experiential education and training activities for over 600 youths organized around the themes of urban agriculture and local food production. Our UST students collected samples from 13 urban farms in the Youth Farms program and analyzed soil samples for nutrients, heavy metals, and other measures of soil quality. Students then analyzed and summarized the results, and prepared products to disseminate their findings. They were allowed to choose among three target audiences: farm managers, youths involved in the program, or the UST community. Student groups produced a variety of products including prezis, web sites, brochures, handouts, and posters. There was even a children’s book and a board game! We awarded prizes for best offerings in each of the categories. It was a hard choice because there were so many good ones. Here are the winners:
“Decreasing Environmental Impact” – a brochure by Liz Chambers, Christian Hager, Dalton Neu, and Aly Phillips.
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“Youth Farms Project: Nellie Stone” – a website developed by Natalie Khoury and Eyerusalem Lemma
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“FARM” – a board game by Jill Haugen, CeCe Peterson, and Lexi Tarter
The FARM game with Lexi Tarter and CeCe Peterson
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“A Kid’s Guide to Urban Farming” – a children’s book by Megan Beetch, Abby Lown, Allison Keith, and Tess King
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“Services for Urban Gardening and the Youth Development Program” – a Prezi by Meaghan Hunt, Lauren Knapp, Meghan O’Reilly, Devin Molnau
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Biophilia 
[…] web sites, brochures, handouts, and posters. There was even a children’s book and a board game! (see the previous blog post on this event here). It was both productive and really […]
By: Undergraduate Scientists Making a Difference: A report on sustainability science in the Biology Department at the University of St. Thomas | Biophilia on February 28, 2013
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