Description:
I choose to do a LINK 2.0 because don't want to take an exploratory that had no meaning to me. So I choose to do my link to get the last credit I needed for that year as well as I could do it in a field that I care about and I could get more out of than another class. So I contacted one of my middle school teachers and asked if she would be willing to have me help out in her ag classroom at Escalante Middle School. She agreed and when I started I was mainly working on their Hydroponics (Growing plants in water). But as the internship progressed I was able to start to help the students in the class as well as help teach and lead the class.
Project:
For my project, I helped in a few ways the biggest one being I helped my mentor get automatic sensors up and running. And I helped figure out the software so the sensors can start recording the data we get from the Hydroponic lettuce unit. The other big piece I did was I helped work on a hydroponic flood table where we grew tomatoes That was one of the biggest challenges because we had to figure out what the tomatoes needed otherwise we risked killing them. The biggest struggle was figuring out that the tomatoes needed more nitrogen and pot hash so they would stop creating leaves and create more blooms.
Reflection:
All in all My LINK 2.0 was amazing. I was able to learn and relearn so much about hydroponics. I learned that I love working with and teaching middle schoolers. I still don't think that is in my career path and that's ok. But I think the biggest thing that I learned is that there is so much more to agriculture than I thought and I’m excited to continue learning about it as I go off to college next fall.