Echo received a 2014 "Volunteer of the Year" award from the University of Minnesota Communicators Forum.
Started working at the University of Minnesota in 2012.
UMCF member since April 2013.
Connect with Echo online:
What excites you about working at the University of Minnesota and for the Department of Horticultural Science?
I love to learn--about everything from biology to history to sociology--and working at the U allows me to continue to learn new things constantly even if I'm not taking a class here. People say that college prepares you for lifelong learning, and I think the U does a great job of fostering that even outside of the classroom. It's definitely improved my trivia scores.
When I came to the Horticulture Department, I thought that horticulture only dealt with flowers. Now I can tell you about the difference between sustainable and organic, the life cycle of two varieties of strawberry, and what plants changed Minnesota. No matter where I end up working at the U as time goes forward, I hope to continue learning new things about the world around me and the amazing projects taking place here.
Tell us about one of the coolest projects you've worked on for your job at the U?
By far the coolest project I've worked on is the one I'm doing now. I'm leading a project to create an interactive e-textbook on how to grow and sell strawberries in cold climates. It's allowed me to work with a huge variety of people (researchers, farmers, videographers, conference organizers), and it's something I'm really excited to show off.
The program we're using to create it, Inkling, goes above and beyond most e-textbooks by allowing you to have widgets, guided tours, tests and quizzes in-text, zoomable images, videos, and more. Cold Climate Strawberry Farming is being released in early July and will be available at no cost, so if you have any interest in growing strawberries you should check it out. I really hope to work on creating more textbooks in the future, because this project has been a great experience.
What is your favorite place on campus?
The Display and Trial Garden on St. Paul campus. It's tucked away on the back corner of Gortner and Folwell Avenues. A lot of people who only visit campus on occasion don't go much out of the way of the campus connector route, so most of the visitors are staff and students who work in the nearby buildings. The garden is full of a variety of flowers, herbs, and shrubs, and even has a few different varieties of Minnesota grapes on the entrance trellis. The chipmunks and squirrels will even come right up to you because they're used to people tossing them food, and there's a pond with fish in it as well. If you've got a little bit of extra time when you come to campus, take a moment to eat lunch in the garden. You won't regret it.
Your hometown and the first place you lived after leaving your hometown?
I grew up in the tiny town of Roseau, MN in the northwest part of the state. For those who don't know about it, it's a beautiful little town of about 3,000 people and it is the county seat of Roseau County. It's 10 miles from Canada, near Lake of the Woods. Just to give an idea of how "middle of nowhere" rural Minnesota it is, here are some reference points: it takes one hour to get to the nearest Walmart or McDonald's, and two hours to the nearest Starbucks or mall. In any direction, including Canada. I suggest visiting there some time during the summer, and be sure to stop by Earl's Drive In.
The first place I moved to was Minneapolis. I came in 2008 to start college at the U, and decided this was a good place to stick around for awhile.
Motto or personal mantra:
The Sunscreen Song by Baz Luhrmann. Not quite a motto or mantra, but when I start to feel down or too worried it centers me again. Here's just one piece of great advice from this song:
"Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll divorce at 40,
maybe you'll dance the 'Funky Chicken' on your 75th wedding anniversary
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much
Or berate yourself either
Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's."
People may be surprised to know:
While I grew up in a small town, I traveled a lot when I was younger. My parents were fair vendors, so I spent every summer until I was seven traveling to and living at different state fairs across the country. After that I started spending summers with my older sister. With her I spent one summer at a Girl Scout camp in Ely, MN, a couple more summers in South Dakota, and a few more in Colorado. Today, fairs have a very special place in my heart and I get really excited about the Minnesota State Fair; you'll see me volunteering there and attending with friends as frequently as I can manage.
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