This week was a crazy, busy, whirlwind of a week! Yesterday (Friday) I presented my proposed research project in my first seminar to the AU Department of Horticulture, which is a kind of a big deal for master's students. The AU department of horticulture truly is a great group of individuals who truly care and want to help their students. I could not have gotten through my seminar without the help and support of my committee, fellow public hort students, and of course, the Lord. I made it through though, and hopefully, the rest of this busy semester will be less stressful! I really like it here at Auburn, and I am very happy with my choice for graduate school. Y'all will be happy to know that I now cheer "Hail State and Go Tigers!"

 As for my research, I am looking at the impact of a sustainable agriculture curriculum on children in a camp. I am very excited about the project. The research site is a really neat camp. It is an Episcopal church camp in north Alabama called Camp McDowell. The camp is expanding, and one area in particular that is also expanding is the camp's Farm School. The camp has asked the AU department of horticulture to help design and install a farm-based demonstration garden for the new addition to the farm school.

For my research, the plan is to develop a sustainable agriculture curriculum with the help of the farm school educators at the camp and an agriculture curriculum developed by an urban agriculture organization called The Food Project. Once we develop a curriculum that is similar to the camp's farm school curriculum, we will perform a pre-test/pos-test research design to see if and what the kids learned from the garden-based activities based on the curriculum. A follow-up survey will be administered in order to gain some insight on their perceptions and attitudes about the overall experience. We hope to start getting our hands dirty and get this project rolling in late spring 2014!

Expect more fun things to come! Adios!
-Hilary :)