Hello everyone! My name is Jackson McCullough and I’m an intern in the Student Farm 2024 Cohort. I’m a rising Senior pursuing an Agricultural Sciences major with a minor in Agronomy.
I grew up in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which is far from anything too agricultural related. Despite this, I always had a love for farming and the wilderness, and I practically grew up camping out with my father and grandparents at Blueberry Meadows and Dolly Sods (Where I also watched my grandparents’ bird band). I went to the University of Pittsburgh for the first two years of college, and I decided I wanted to pursue an agricultural degree after working on my uncle’s farm for a summer, as well as working on a farm right outside Pittsburgh in Millvale. I have been getting involved in the Penn State community ever since and was drawn to the Student Farm. Thus, I became an intern!
Already, throughout the class section of the internship I have learned a lot about farming techniques and overall sustainability. I’ve enjoyed reading the Market Gardener and watching and hearing how we at the Student Farm are incorporating some of the practices from the book. My favorite things to do so far are use the Broad Fork as well as the Direct Seeding Mechanisms. I’m very intrigued to be working both out in the field as well as in the high tunnels. I’ll also be very interested in trying to identify the birds around the farm, as I’ve been slacking a little bit in keeping up with my birding knowledge!
To me, one of the main things I’m looking forward to is also the community on the Student Farm. Community means a lot to me, especially now that I’m joining a new one and leaving one that I’ve known. I hope to both learn about the community and help improve it through my time here. I want to see how everyone interacts with each other and how our university’s food system works since I will be working directly within it. Through interning at the Student Farm, I believe my chances are good at making a difference and helping the local community improve itself. The Student Farm has already done a lot to promote sustainable practices and I strive to learn along with them about how to lead and organize people in becoming a more sustainable campus overall.