Progress 06/01/24 to 05/31/25
Outputs
Target Audience:The target beneficiaries for the NextGen grant goals are current Bergen Community College students majoring in horticulture, culinary arts, and all STEM disciplines. We also conduct outreach to local dual enrollment high school students and other students not yet in dual enrollment. A major focus of the activities is also targeted towards students with disabilities. Changes/Problems:The biggest obstacle starting in February 2025 was that funding was frozen. We were able to continue with low or no-cost activities such as personal development and career workshops for students, faculty and staff. Another obstacle was the slow progress of creating the on-campus vertical hydroponic farm. We have worked with our staff to outfit an unused atrium area that will be made into a 10'x 40' beautiful indoor hydroponic vertical farm with floor to ceiling windows to foster an ideal growing environment. Currently this space is being used for hydroponic vertical farming. However, we are on our way to fulfilling this endeavor in year three of the grant in a more enhanced facility. This will be instead of renting or purchasing container pods, which requirerunning water and electricity lines through our campus. We are using that outdoor space for more hydroponic gardening during the spring and summer months. The atrium is used all year round and already has existing electricity, a water line and natural sunlight. It is currently being used to host a six-week high school spring 2025 Saturday course with eight students. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Community Garden: An expanded outdoor community garden with eighteen raised beds and an extended in-ground trellised grow area for 4-H club members and campus community of faculty, students and staff were readied for plantings for spring 2025. A workshop was held to sign up community members and discuss the use of seedlings and equipment on campus. Thirteen plots have been reserved by the campus community to start their growing of vegetables, fruits and ornamental plants. First Year Experience Instructor Seminar: Led a seminar to inform twenty-one Freshman First Year Experience Instructors on the NextGen grant overview and opportunities for students and faculty. Demonstrated traditional, hydroponic, and aquaponic growing techniques. Five Faculty Development Workshops in Horticulture and Nutrition were given in Year 2 focusing on horticulture and nutrition. Backyard Landscape Design: Understand the principles of design and create a functional space with aesthetic appeal, overcome common landscape problems, and revitalize an old/overgrown landscape Eat This, Not That: Incorporating Plant-Based Cooking in the Diet: this workshop instructed faculty, staff and students on plant-based cooking, adding plant-based protein and awareness of color to add nutritional value, and ended with a demonstration on creating a balanced salad. Gut Feeling: Unveiling the Brain-Gut Connection: delves into the fascinating connection between the gut microbiota and the brain. Explore how the health of your gut can influence mental well-being with a focus on conditions such as depression, anxiety, and dementia. Hydroponic Herbs: Learn how to grow herbs hydroponically and how to use them in healthy cooking. Nourishing Minds: Impact of Diet on Mental Health: Explore the relationship between food and emotional well-being and which foods can enhance cognitive function, mood, and overall mental health, as well as identify those that might contribute to mental health challenges. Learn how to make informed dietary choices to support mental resilience and overall emotional balance. Winterizing Your Garden: Identify hardiness zones, remove annuals and weeds, identify plants to bring indoors, minimize snow damage, irrigation systems, mulch and when to water "Not only have they had a financial impact on many students like myself, but the NextGen team has created events that impact the Bergen community as well as creating a space where students can learn more about our environment and immerse themselves in learning about the environment, agriculture and how we can incorporate this into our everyday lives." Michelle S. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Public Relations: Materials created include trifold NextGen brochure, summer program flyer, NextGen scholarship flyer, postcards, all posted in the STEM Center, by and in the NextGen Hub, distributed at two Open Houses to high school students and parents, NextGen Earth Day sponsorship and table, 4-H club flyer and social media posts. Tabling was done to bring awareness to the NextGen grant in our students center with a specially designed tablecloth, banner sign, table sign. We have a new hanging hallway sign so students can easily find our office suite. Library book display: We designed a sign and bookcase display for FANH related books and information about the grant activities. A library guide on the library webpage was also created for FANH related books and journals. NextGen events were posted on this page. A whiteboard with posted questions was placed by the library book display about food for students to answer as a fun activity and to bring awareness of the grant and FANH careers. Grants Department Open House: Manned a table with small jade plant giveaway with NextGen postcard attached highlighted NextGen activities. Plant-to-Plate Exhibition: In October 2024, the NextGen team held an exhibition in our student center to highlight the activities of the USDA and the NextGen grant. Highlights were a hydroponics display, an exhibit with faculty discussing different apple varieties and tastings, plant-based cuisine tasting, 4H club sign-up and plant giveaways with our flyers, posters, and brochures to hand out. Social media posts: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, On-Campus Bergen Daily posts Articles in our campus newsletter and newspaper. Frequent presentations to the STEM club and STEM Honors Research Program. Weekly tabling to promote NextGen activities, internships and scholarships while asking questions about USDA grants. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?4-H Clubs on Campus for College and High School Students: Continuation of monthly meetings for college 4H club in fall 2025 and expansion of the 4-H high school level club on campus Fall 2025. Advisory Council: First meeting will take place in June 2024. Participants will be a local dietician with many years in the industry, restauranteur, director of an agriculture program at Stonybrook University, a SUNY University on Long Island, NY, PepsiCo Mentoring Program leader, local farm owner, Rutgers graduate student, high school teacher of agricultural techniques. AS Agricultural Business and Food Systems concentration: Articulate this concentration to Rutgers new Agricultural Business and Food Systems 4-year degree. AS in Community Nutrition: Worked with the Dean of Plant Science at Rutgers to align our culinary arts syllabi and coordinate our coursework. Fully articulate curriculum course maps for Rutgers 4-year degree programs in Community Nutrition, Dietetics, Food Service Administration, and Biomedical Nutrition. This degree may be housed in the Health Sciences department, cross listed with Hospitality and Restaurant Management (HRM) department . AS in Culinary Arts with a concentration in Plant-Forward Culinary Arts: Adding at least one new course called Introduction to Plant-Based Cuisine plus STEM and horticulture courses to create this new concentration option in the HRM department. This degree option is expected to be presented to curriculum committee during year 3 of the grant. BCC STEM Student Scholars Research Internship Program Summer 2025: Ten BCC interns in hydroponics research program focused on advancing soil-less agriculture. Students will design experiments, collect data, and analyze results, develop projects aimed at improving hydroponic systems for sustainable food production. This group won First Place in our annual STEM C2 Research Symposium, sponsored by NextGen grant. Community Garden: An expanded outdoor community garden with nineteen raised beds and an extended in-ground trellised grow area for 4-H club student members and campus community of faculty and staff will continue with plantings in summer to fall 2025. We will hold several workshops in the summer and fall to for community members to discuss their issues and better techniques in the growing of ornamental plants, vegetables and pest management. Employment Opportunities for Underserved Populations: Partner with Greens Do Good to place neuro-diverse students in their hydroponic farm facility in summer and fall of 2025. FANH Career Explorations Pre-College Summer Experience Summer 2025: Approximately eighty high school students will attend a 4-week summer program each with a different focus: beekeeping week, hydroponics week, agri-tech week and fermented foods week. These weeks will be led by BCC faculty. There will be a career research component to each week of the internship. There will also be three workshops led by Rutgers graduate students in FANH career explorations, personal career trajectories presentation, and horticulture therapy workshop. Field Trips: Local area farms, botanical gardens and food-related corporate headquarters were visited in year 2 to expose students to various agricultural techniques and careers. We plan to return to those venues as well attending the 4-H Somerset County Fair and 4-H Bergen County Fair again in year 3. High School Faculty Training Workshops: Preparations are underway to provide workshops at local partner high schools with dual enrollment courses in culinary arts, horticulture, plant science, biology and chemistry on how to incorporate agricultural topics in these courses. Our horticulture consultant and expert teacher will create teacher training materials and develop a workshop for teachers to incorporate agricultural topics at their high schools, via zoom and on the BCC campus, and at the annual New Jersey Science Teachers Convention in October 2025. Hydroponic Farming micro-credential: Working with our Continuing Education department to create a micro-credential in hydroponics. A CE hydroponics course will be taught in fall 2025 on Saturdays for the local community. Hydroponic Farming Facility: Outfit new hydroponic farming facility on the campus in our existing indoor atrium. Plans and preparations are underway to enhance the existing hydroponic facility in Summer 2025. Hydroponics Internship for Neuro-Diverse Students: In summer 2025, we will create internships for eight neuro-diverse students on-campus, six from our Turning Point program and two from the Center for Adult Transition who will work with our Co-PI in our hydroponics atrium lab and in our outdoor garden. Open Houses for Culinary Arts and Horticulture students: invite students and dual enrollment classes to our campus to see our hydroponics facilities for Fall 2025. Outdoor Student Learning Garden: Continued work and internships related to the expanded outdoor garden using 10 Raised beds (6 feet by 3 feet, times 10) with an extended in-ground trellised grow area. Expansion and enhancement of this garden for student learning. It is in a separate area than our community garden. Outreach to High School dual enrollment students: Visits to local high school dual enrollment administrators, faculty, and students to promote our NextGen activities and encourage students to take Culinary Arts, Horticulture, Biology dual enrollment coursework will continue in Fall 2025 and throughout the next three years of the grant. Scholarships will be offered to students during this time period when they enroll at BCC in the fall 2025. We will bring hydroponic kits to high schools to demonstrate hands-on agricultural techniques and raise awareness of USDA. Outside Internships: Work with outside corporate partners to develop pipeline of internships and to USDA internships. Rutgers Summer Experiential Learning Program (ELP) Summer 2025: For the second summer, six BCC students will complete 3 weeks of research in plant science, living on campus, receiving two research credits and guidance from one-on-one graduate student mentors and the SEBS faculty. Students will receive $1500 stipends as well. STEM Student Scholars Program: Guide up to ten BCC student interns in summer 2025 in a hydroponics research program, engage in research focused on advancing soil-less agriculture. This immersive internship offers the opportunity to apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills to real-world challenges in the field of hydroponics. Throughout the program, students will design experiments, collect data, and analyze results, develop projects aimed at improving hydroponic systems for sustainable food production. Activities include monitoring plant growth and evaluating the impact of different variables such as light intensity, nutrient composition, and water pH. This internship will provide a valuable platform to develop both technical and collaborative skills while building a professional network. Students will gain hands-on experience in hydroponics research, contributing to the development of innovative solutions for modern agricultural challenges.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1Objective 1.1: The course "Dynamics in Food: Exploring Systems, Culture, and Policy" will launch in Year 3. It will examine the links between food policies, health, and their historical impacts, focusing on how government regulations and interest groups have shaped the food system. Bergen has secured transfer agreements with Rutgers for two horticulture courses, HRT-102 Plant Science and HRT-232 Plant Propagation, which will fully transfer into Rutgers' Horticulture and Turf Management program. HRT-102 is now a general education course, increasing its appeal as a science requirement. Objective 1.2A.S. in Community Nutrition: Collaborated with Rutgers' Dean of Plant Science to align culinary arts coursework and reviewed Rutgers' 4-year programs in Community Nutrition, Dietetics, Food Service Administration, and Biomedical Nutrition. Introduction to Plant-Based Cuisine: This course introduces plant-based cuisine, focusing on whole plant foods and explores its nutritional, cultural, culinary, and sustainability aspects through labs, discussions, and projects. A.S. in Culinary Arts with a Plant-Forward Culinary Arts Concentration: This new concentration includes Introduction to Plant-Based Cuisine and STEM/horticulture courses. The proposal will be presented in Year 3. A.S. in Horticulture: The Agricultural Business and Food Systems concentration combines business, economics, horticulture, and STEM courses, aiming to align with Rutgers' 4-year program. An MOU with Rutgers New Brunswick was signed for BCC students to transfer into FANH science bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs, serving as a model for future agreements. Objective 1.3:Introduction to Hydroponics, a six-week course for high school students and another six-week course in Continuing Education dept. for the local community was created and offered. Objective1.4:The following PD opportunities were offered to staff and faculty: First Year Experience Instructor Seminar Five Faculty Development Workshops in Horticulture and Nutrition Backyard Landscape Design Eat This, Not That: Incorporating Plant-Based Cuisine in the Diet Gut Feeling: Unveiling the Brain-Gut Connection: Hydroponic Herbs Nourishing Minds: Impact of Diet on Mental Health Winterizing Your Garden Goal 2,Objective 2.1 4-H High school club: Our new club has five high school students with two BCC student leaders and one faculty member. Introduction to Hydroponics course: a six-week course for high school students will develop the skills to design and maintain a small-scale hydroponic system and understand the potential of hydroponics for future food production. Plant-Forward Pre-College Summer Experience: In summer 2024, sixteen high school students from Bergen County earned nine BCC college credits in Culinary Arts (HRM 102, HRM 103) and Horticulture/Hydroponics (HRT 101) through scholarship funding over six weeks. Objective 2.2 High School Partnerships/Dual Enrollment Recruitment: NextGen team met with dual enrollment administrators at BCC to support program coordination and implementation and created new program overview and marketing materials to support enrollment. Program recruitment efforts included campus visits from 9th and 10th grade students from 10 high schools in Fall 2024. Applied Technical High School Hydroponic Workshops: In January 2025, 92 sophomores took part in a 2-day (8 contact hour) hydroponics workshop, receiving a BCC USDA NextGen project hydroponics certificate. Multicultural Summer Intensive Program: Between 7/10/24-7/20/24 fifteen high school students attended a two-week day program. Students reported increased interest in BCC's hydroponics program, awareness of the USDA, and careers in FANH. Objective 2.3: In Summer 2024 the six-week (7/8/24-8/15/24) Plant-Forward Summer Program provided sixteen high school students from across Bergen County granted-funded free-tuition scholarships resulting in nine BCC college credits in Culinary Arts (HRM 102, HRM 103) and Horticulture/Hydroponics (HRT101). Objective 2.4FANH Academic and Career Advisor: Hired and trained academic/career advisor in January 2025 to support students enrolled STEM, horticulture, HRM, receiving NextGen scholarships, or are 4H club members. Rutgers Summer Experiential Learning Program: Five students participated in the 2.5 week Summer 2024 residential Rutgers Summer Research Experiential Learning Program. Students received room, board, one-on-one mentorship, $1500.00 stipend, and earned two Rutgers research credits (transferable to other colleges paid for by the grant). PepsiCo/BCC Women-in-STEM Mentoring Program: Eleven female students were mentored during the 2024-2025 academic year by PepsiCo employees on food and beverage production. 4-H Club: Founded the 4-H club, increasing leadership and awareness of environmental and agricultural issues. As of Spring 2025, there are 31 active member; students report increased interest in related 4-year studies. Community Garden: In Spring 2025, the team expanded an outdoor community garden for 4-H club members, faculty and staff, with 13 of 18 plots reserved by the campus community. Goal 3, Objective 3.1 Greens Do Good: BCC is working with a local hydroponics farm/REED Autism Services to use their curriculum and provide internships and pre-employment training for neurodiverse students from BCC's Turning Point Program in spring 2025. Bergen County Technical Schools (BCTS) Outreach: The NextGen team continues to build partnerships with Bergen County Technical High Schools via teacher training workshops and recruit students to our dual enrollment programs (June 2024). Center for Adult Transition (CAT) Bootcamp: In Summer 2024, thirteen neuro-diverse students worked in a two-week day program. Turning Point Summer Interns: In Summer 2024, four neuro-diverse students participated in unpaid internships focused on soil-less farming, while acquiring skills and exposure in sustainable agriculture. On Campus Hydroponics Internship: In Fall 2024, seven students (5 Turning Point, 2 Center for Adult Transition) met weekly for two 1-hour lecture and lab. Expanded Outdoor Student Garden: In Summer 2024, Turning Point gained job skills through the creation of an outdoor, raised garden and creation of 300-gallon rain harvesting system. Hired Turning Point Hydroponic Technical Assistant: A young adult with intellectual disabilities is working as paid horticulture intern under the supervision of the chair of BCC horticulture program. Completed Four Agricultural-Themed Videos: Overview of 16 Point Overview of Hydroponics; Statistics (MAT-150) Ph Germination Rate Exercise; History of Hydroponics (with student intern); and Passive Hydroponics Systems During summer 2024 the grant supported 10 student interns' participation in a hydroponics research program. NJIT STEM Internship Summer 2024: One NextGen student, a summer 2024 intern of the STEM Student Scholars Research Internships, participated in a research internship at NJIT.
Publications
|
Progress 06/01/23 to 05/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The target beneficiaries for the NextGen grant goals are current Bergen Community College students majoring in horticulture, culinary arts, and all disciplines of STEM. We also reach out to dual enrollment high school students and younger high school students not yet in dual enrollment. A major focus of the activities is also targeted towards students with disabilities. Changes/Problems:A big obstacle was the slow progress of creating the on-campus vertical hydroponic farm. We are currently working with our staff to outfit an unused atrium area that will be made into a 10'x 40' beautiful indoor hydroponic vertical farm with floor to ceiling windows to foster an ideal growing environment. We are on our way to fulfilling this endeavor in year two of the grant. This will be instead of renting or purchasing container pods, which required running water and electricity lines through our campus. We will use that outdoor space for more hydroponic gardening during the spring and summer months. The atrium can be used all year round and already has existing electricity, a water line and natural sunlight. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?On-Campus STEM Student Scholars Summer Research Program: 8-10 honors STEM students will conduct research involving plant science, agricultural technology, and hydroponics farming using our NextGen hydroponic garden and community garden under the supervision of our grant Co-PI, John Cichowski High School Teacher Training Program: Preparations are underway to provide workshops at local partner high schools with dual enrollment courses in culinary arts, horticulture, plant science, biology and chemistry on how to incorporate agricultural topics in these courses. Our consultant, expert teacher Clare Kennedy, is devising her PowerPoint materials this summer 2024 in order to lead activities at high schools in the academic year 2024-2025. She is applying to lead a workshop on agricultural technology at the upcoming Science Teachers Conference in October in New Jersey. First Year Experience Instructor Seminar: Led a seminar to inform twenty-one Freshman First Year Experience Instructors on the NextGen grant overview and opportunities for students and faculty. Demonstrated traditional, hydroponic, and aquaponic growing techniques. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Public Relations Materials: Created a trifold NextGen brochure, summer program flyer, NextGen scholarship flier, all posted in the STEM Center, by and in the NextGen Hub, distributed at two Open Houses to high school students and parents, NextGen Earth Day sponsorship and table that reached over 300 students who attended this event, 4-H club flyer and social media posts. Social media posts: Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn. Article in our campus newsletter. Presentations to the STEM club and STEM Student Scholars Honors Research Program. PowerPoint presentations to local high schools. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Rutgers Summer Experiential Learning Program (ELP) Summer 2024: Five students will complete 3 weeks of research in plant science, living on campus, receiving two research credits. Plant-Forward Pre-College Summer Experience Summer 2024: Sixteen high school students will earn 9 BCC college credits with free-tuition scholarship. 6-week program offers food safety and preparation, basics of culinary arts and horticulture with a focus on hydroponics. Will include 3 workshops from Rutgers in career explorations, graduate student presentation, and horticulture therapy workshop. BCC STEM Student Scholars Research Internship Program Summer 2024: Ten BCC interns in hydroponics research program focused on advancing soil-less agriculture. Students will design experiments, collect data, and analyze results, develop projects aimed at improving hydroponic systems for sustainable food production. This group won First Place in our annual STEM C2 Research Symposium, sponsored by NextGen grant. NJIT STEM Internship Summer 2024 (1 student). One student who was a summer intern for our STEM Student Scholars Research Internships last year, went on to participate in a research internship at New Jersey institute Hydroponic Farming Facility: Create brand new hydroponic farming facility on the campus in our existing atrium. Outdoor Community Garden: Expand outdoor garden using 10 Raised beds with an extended in-ground trellised grow area for 4-HH club members and campus community. On-Campus Hydroponics Internship Summer 2024: internships for eight neuro-diverse students. 4-H Clubs: college level campus club and a high school 4-H club Fall 2024. Advisory Council: Participants will include local industry executives from PepsiCo, Rutgers, SUNY Stonybrook, local farm & restaurant owners. Outreach to HS dual enrollment students: Includes visits to local high school dual enrollment faculty and students to promote our NextGen activities. Bring hydroponic kits to high schools to demonstrate hands-on agricultural techniques and raise awareness of USDA. Teacher Training Workshops: Create training materials and develop workshop for high school teachers to incorporate agricultural topics. Field Trips: local area farms and botanical gardens. Visit to 4-H Somerset County Fair and 4-H Bergen County Fair. Internships: Work with outside corporate partners to develop pipeline of internships and to USDA internships. Students will complete internships at Rutgers SEBS and through our STEM Scholars program. Employment Opportunities for Underserved Populations: Partner with Greens Do Good to place neuro-diverse students in their hydroponic farm facility. AS Agricultural Business and Food Systems concentration Articulate this concentration to Rutgers new Agricultural Business and Food Systems 4-year degree. Hydroponic Farming micro-credential: stackable credential in hydroponic farming through CTE. Syllabus and course descriptions are completed.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1: Objectives 1.1: Transfer Articulation Agreement with Rutgers University: Completed articulation agreements for two horticultural courses, HRT-102 Plant Science and HRT-232 Plant Propagation that will fully transfer to the Rutgers Horticulture and Turf Management degree program. FANH Curriculum Review Committee: Consisted of BCC Coordinator of Biotechnology, BCC chemistry professor, BCC horticulture consultant, BCC chair of horticulture department, BCC chair of culinary arts department, BCC FANH coordinator, BCC chair of biology department, Rutgers Dean of Plant Science at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) and Assistant Professor and program director of Plant Sciences, Rutgers SEBS. We are in the process of fully aligning our horticulture AS to the Rutgers Horticulture and Turf Industry 4-year degree. Work has begun on both Plant-Forward new degree concentration in culinary arts as and new concentration in Community Nutrition with Rutgers Community Nutrition 4-year degree. 1.2: AS in Culinary Arts with a concentration in Nutrition: Worked with the Dean of Plant Science at Rutgers to align our culinary arts syllabi and coordinate our coursework. Reviewed curriculum course maps for Rutgers 4-year degree programs in Community Nutrition, Dietetics, Food Service Administration, and Biomedical Nutrition. Meetings with STEM, Health Professions and Culinary Arts to create this program. AS in Culinary Arts with a Concentration in Plant-Forward Culinary Arts: Syllabus, recipes, and course content were created. Outline of new plant-forward coursework has been completed. 1.4: First Year Experience Instructor Seminar: Led a seminar to inform twenty-one Freshman First Year Experience Instructors on the NextGen grant overview and opportunities for students and faculty. Demonstrated traditional, hydroponic, and aquaponic growing techniques. Goal 2:2.4 Multicultural Summer Intensive Program: - From July 10th - July 20th, 2023, eighteen incoming high school students participated in a two-week day program - Students were exposed to hydroponic farming, provided with an overview of vegetable production utilizing both traditional and hydroponic techniques. Impact on students was an increased interest in our hydroponics program and awareness of the USDA and careers in FANH. 4-H Club: Spring 2024 started the preparation and founding of a new campus club for college students on the BCC campus so that students can gain leadership experience and awareness of environmental and agricultural issues. Some of these same students will then start and lead a high school 4-H club for the local community and partner dual enrollment high schools. This club will bring awareness of agriculture, urban/suburban farming, environmental and natural resources conservation. Impact on students is that one student, Daniel, after having attended the USDA Agricultural Forum and become a 4-H member, they want to transfer as an Environmental Science major at State University of NY School of Environmental Sciences and Forestry (SUNY ESF). PepsiCo Women-in-STEM Mentoring Program: Eleven female students were chosen to be mentored over the 2024 academic year by PepsiCo employees, who work in all aspects of their food and beverage production. Mentors are trained to discuss work/life/college balance, careers, internships, and personal experiences and challenges working in the STEM field. The students were invited to spend the day touring the PepsiCo Research & Development facility in Westchester, NY and learning about STEM careers in the food industry. They saw how biotechnology is used to research food science, and how materials science is used in the bottling process, and computer science used in their virtual reality lab. They also heard from several young female employees on their career trajectories while majoring in FANH subject areas. "The most important lessons I have learned from my mentor is to always work hard and to never give up." Felistas, PepsiCo Mentee Goal 3: Center for Adult Transition (CAT) Bootcamp: In Summer 2023, thirteen neuro-diverse students worked in a two-week day program - Met with students daily for two hours. Provided overview of vegetable production utilizing both traditional and hydroponic techniques. Hired Turning Point Hydroponic Technical Assistant: Young adult with an intellectual disability working as paid horticulture intern under the supervision of the chair of BCC horticulture program. "I had a paid internship with Dr. Cichowski where we did hydroponics, grew vegetables, made a garden and took care of the plants. After completing this internship, Dr. Cichowski asked me to continue as a paid intern over the summer. I also started taking horticulture classes including Horticulture 101 and Floral Design. My career goal is to continue taking horticulture classes here at the school and look for a job in this field. I like working with plants because it is calming, and I feel good because I can tell people what I am able to do." Hallie, Turning Point Student Completed Four Agricultural-Themed Videos: Overview - 16 Point Overview of Hydroponics; Statistics (MAT-150) Ph Germination Rate Exercise; History of Hydroponics (with student intern); Passive Hydroponics Systems. Built Hydroponic and Aquaponic Systems in Seasonal Greenhouse. These systems were built by our 5 neuro-diverse hydroponic interns and 10 stem student scholars in summer 2023. Built Outdoor Hydroponic and Traditional Raised Bed Vegetable Garden. Eight neuro-diverse interns and ten STEM student scholars created our first outdoor hydroponic and traditional raised bed vegetable garden in Summer 2023. Hydroponics and Composting Workshop: Over a two-week period in May 2024, students at Applied Tech High School in Bergen County were presented workshops by our PI Dr. John Cichowski that reviewed and explained the science behind hydroponic gardening and composting to 96 9th and 10th graders.
Publications
|