Internship Nurtures Ideas for Science and Ag Education

When Justin Ingram walked through the doors of North Carolina State University’s Plant Sciences Building in July, the teaching and learning specialist with the Johnston County school district knew that science is vital to agriculture.

But his ideas were vague – “amorphous” is how he puts it.

That was until he spent three weeks as an intern with the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative. Ingram says the internship opened his eyes to how high-tech agriculture has become and how diverse its related off-farm career opportunities are.

Why he chose the N.C. PSI

Ingram came to the N.C. PSI internship through the Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership, which provides selected K-12 educators with immersive professional development opportunities and the chance to engage with industry. The program’s goal is to help bridge the gap between classrooms and workplaces.

As Kenan Fellows Program Director Vance Kite said, “Preparing students for tomorrow’s jobs depends on education professionals having deep understandings of available career pathways and the skills that students will need to succeed in those careers.

“Unfortunately, most K-12 educators will not typically have the opportunity to engage with local universities or local industries in a way that will give them the kinds of firsthand knowledge that they need to prepare their students for the future workforce. KFP addresses this need by partnering with industries and universities,” Kite continued.

Preparing students for tomorrow’s jobs depends on education professionals having deep understandings of available career pathways and the skills that students will need to succeed in those careers.

Through the program, Kite said, educators gain “120 hours of immersion experience that builds their capacity to create compelling learning experiences that connect students to both authentic science and the future workforce.”

Ingram’s fellowship, sponsored by the Biogen Foundation, aims to address local food access and how food security impacts health outcomes in his community.

Ingram was especially enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with the N.C. PSI because of an experience he’d had early in his teaching career, when a community garden was built on the grounds of the Mecklenburg County high school where he worked.

The garden was designed to help build community, start building conversations about nutrition and provide access to healthy foods in a food desert, he says.

“That piqued my interest, but I just haven’t been in situations long enough to really get traction to get back into that,” Ingram adds. “So when I saw this opportunity at the PSI to look at the connection of science education and food insecurity and food production, I said, ‘Oh yeah. This is something I’m passionate about, something I enjoy and something that I think is purposeful.’”

A jam-packed three weeks

Ingram’s time with the N.C. PSI was packed with activities that took him to three locations. At the Plant Sciences Building, he engaged with graduate students, post-doctoral scholars and NC State scientists and engineers undertaking diverse agricultural research. He also observed an NC State agricultural workshop for high schoolers.

In Charlotte, he met local farmers at a workshop held by an educational organization interested in connecting educators to modern agriculture.

And closer to home in Johnston County, he spent time in the greenhouses and agricultural fields of Central Crops Research Station. There, he learned about how NC State students and faculty members use drones and other technology to study local agricultural challenges.

Taking on his own challenge

Now, Ingram faces his own challenge: turning the knowledge he gained during the internship into a product that can benefit teachers and students.

When he returned to the Plant Sciences Building in August for an after-internship with mentor Sarah Dinger, his mind was churning with countless ideas for that product.

Among those ideas: creating agricultural science labs for teachers, developing experiences that plug students into agricultural careers and building connections from the high school biology, chemistry and physics programs he supports to those schools’ agricultural education programs.

“One of the ideas that I have been introduced to as part of the internship was the opportunity to expose students in opportunities within agriculture beyond working on a farm,” he says. “If they are interested in chemistry, for example, they can do chemical engineering around the products that are used to grow crops. Or if they’re interested in genetics, they can get into that side of things. Or they could go into sales and marketing. The opportunities are very broad.”

Nourishing a plant and nourishing life … That process is central to our experience as humans and central to what we want to do innately …

Beyond scientific concepts and careers, Ingram sees life lessons in agriculture.

“Giving students hands-on experiences specifically around gardening and nourishing a plant and nourishing life, watching something grow and develop over time and having to take care of it – I think that process is central to our experience as humans and central to what we want to do innately or naturally,” he says.

Dinger, the N.C. PSI’s program manager for education and extension outreach, agrees.

Educators open doors for students to see themselves in science and agriculture.

Having Ingram intern at the N.C. PSI was an opportunity not just for him, she says, but one that will likely have long-term implications for the 75 Johnston County teachers he supports, their students and the broader science education community.

“Justin’s passion for new ways to engage students is palpable — contagious. Educators open doors for students to see themselves in science and agriculture,” Dinger says. “Part of our role at PSI, is to first open the door for educators. We are so grateful for the Kenan Fellows’ mission and look forward to future collaboration with teachers across North Carolina.”