• News
  • Student Life
  • Athletics
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Portal Login
  • News
  • Student Life
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Athletics
  • Portal Login

Biology majors partner with nonprofit to build sustainable farming system

salvetoday Posted On February 15, 2019
0


0
Shares
  • Share On Facebook
  • Tweet It

Biology majors Victoria Johnson ’19 and Lindsey Florent ’19 credit their technical training in the sciences and their humanities coursework for empowering them to put their passion for community service into action by building an indoor urban farming system that will make a sustainable difference for underserved communities in Massachusetts.

The students, who are both chemistry minors, formed a partnership with Gifts to Give in Acushnet, Massachusetts as part of their Service Plunge project focusing on environmental and hunger issues. Their idea was to put their knowledge about health, nutrition and hydroponics to work by building a sustainable farming system inside the nonprofit’s downtown warehouse.

“The seeds were planted and placed in the system on Feb. 9 and will spend the next few months taking root, growing and being harvested as the first produce for their soup kitchen,” Johnson said. “As natives to the [New Bedford] area, we hope that this work will help leave a positive mark on our city and hopefully expand to local schools. It has been quite the labor of love but one in which we are incredibly humbled and inspired by. We cannot wait to continue to see this endeavor grow.”

The partnership formed last summer when Johnson and Florent sat down with Gifts to Give founder and CEO Jim Stevens. Stevens expressed his desire to create a startup soup kitchen, and the Salve students presented their vision of creating a fully operational hydroponic farm in which fresh produce could be grown in an environmentally sustainable manner and managed by volunteers.

“We evaluated the vision, made a blueprint of the system, and plotted out the cost with the advisement of GrowRI and Dr. Jameson Chace (professor of biology and biomedical sciences),” Johnson said.

This winter, the students completed the assembly of an enclosed area within the warehouse containing two multi-level hydroponic systems, complete with state-of-the-art materials, measurement devices, nutrients and, of course, plants.

“This is a city in which we believed hydroponics could thrive and provide underserved regions with healthy, easy to obtain foods while also teaching individuals how to properly care for and maintain their own produce,” Johnson said. The system will serve not only as a food source for the agency’s soup kitchen, but also as an educational opportunity for the thousands of families served by Gifts to Give.

“Making the decision to take courses based in the humanities at Salve allowed us to focus on activism and the critical concerns of mercy,” Johnson said. “And even more so, it sparked our interest in serving the local community.” One course in particular, The Sociological Imagination, taught by Dr. Laura O’Toole, explored the issue of healthy food deficits in underserved regions.

Both students were introduced to the hydroponics lab on Salve’s campus as freshmen in Chace’s general biology class and have since immersed themselves in hydroponic-based research, in teaching local school communities how to grow produce hydroponically, and in volunteering in the lab to help maintain the growth systems.

0
Shares
  • Share On Facebook
  • Tweet It




  • RSS Calendar of Events

    • Winter break
      Date: Sunday, December 20, 2020 (All day) to Monday, January 18, 2021 (All day)
    • Onboarding testing
      Date: Thursday, January 14, 2021 (All day) to Wednesday, January 20, 2021 (All day)
      Rodgers Recreation Center

      All undergraduate students, along with graduate students who plan to attend in-person classes, must be tested through Salve Regina’s onboarding testing program. Resident students will be tested...

    • 36th annual NAACP birthday program
      Date: Monday, January 18, 2021 - 12:00pm

      Join the Newport County branch of the NAACP and Salve Regina’s Center for Community Engagement and Service for an MLK Day conversation with guest speaker Jerome Nurse, who is currently serving...

    • Spring Classes Begin
      Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2021 (All day)
    • Presidential inauguration at-home viewing
      Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 12:00pm

      Stop by McKillop Library beginning Monday, Jan. 18 to pick up a viewing party bag with a livestream link for...

    • Faculty office hours with the president
      Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 3:00pm

      Salve Regina faculty are invited to join President Kelli J. Armstrong for a virtual forum to share ideas and experiences. These monthly discussions are designed to create an ongoing dialogue with...

    • Teach-in for justice and mercy: Cultural Competency
      Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 4:00pm

      Denis Riel, adjunct professor in the Department of Administration of Justice, will open his course Cultural Competency to the wider campus and local community as part of the MLK Week teach-in...

    • Lecture and dialogue: The Past and Future of Civil Rights in the U.S.
      Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 5:00pm

      On this historic inauguration day, join civil rights activist Bernard Lafayette Jr. as he reflects on the work of the civil rights movement past and present and the ongoing need to advance the...

    • Mass
      Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 12:15pm
      Our Lady of Mercy Chapel
    • Mass
      Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - 12:15pm
      Our Lady of Mercy Chapel
  • Browse Sections

    Salve Success

    Health and Wellness

    Mercy Mission

    Arts and Humanities

    Science and Technology

    Event Coverage

    Business and Economics

    Graduate News



Stay Updated

Latest news from SALVEtoday

 

  • Salve Regina University

    100 Ochre Point Avenue
    Newport, Rhode Island 02840 USA

     (401) 847-6650

    (c) 2021 Salve Regina University

  • SALVEtoday Archives

  • Social Media Directory

  • Mercy Emergency Relief Fund


  • News
  • Student Life
  • Athletics
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Portal Login
Press enter/return to begin your search