The farm internship gives students hands-on work experience at the farm and aims to teach our interns about the essential parts of vegetable production while thinking about sustainable farming at large. This internship will expand your horticultural skills and knowledge, developing applied skills in design, marketing, food handling, infrastructural maintenance and land stewardship.
The interns will spend their mornings working on the farm, planting, weeding, trellising, irrigating, maintaining, harvesting and washing the crops growing at the SSF.
The afternoons will be spent doing activities tied to the internship portion of the summer experience. This will include
- lectures/discussions on different topics including farm design, different aspects of vegetable production, soil and farm ecosystem health and social issues around food.
- Farm tours and volunteering at other farms and community gardens
- Rotating through different managerial roles on the farm; managing our farm stand, our online sales, CSA, our wholesale and donation coordination, record keeping and outreach
- Developing a miniature farm plan
- Implementing vegetable variety trials
2023 Internship is officially open for applications. If you do want to apply, email a copy of your resume and a cover letter describing why you want to be in the program . Contact us at illinois-ssf@illinois.edu if you are interested in joining the team!
2022 Interns
Ashlyn
Hometown: Monmouth, IL
Major: Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
Favorite Veggie: Broccoli
Hobby: Swimming, being outdoors, & reading
Favorite Building on Campus: ACES Library
Aziz
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Major: Agricultural & Consumer Economics w/ a concentration in Farm Management
Favorite Veggie: Navy Bean
Hobby: Creating graphic designs & playing sports
Favorite Song: Hey Mama by Kanye West
Finn
Hometown: Palatine, IL
Major: Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Favorite Veggie: Carrot
Hobby: Drawing
Favorite Movie: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Hope
ft. Tire (cat)
Hometown: Aurora, IL
Major: Earth, Society, and Environmental Sustainability
Favorite Veggie: Cucumber
Hobby: Gaming
Favorite TV Show: Soul Eater
Julia
Hometown: Springfield, IL
Major: Urban Planning w/ a concentration in Sustainability
Favorite Veggie: Onions
Hobby: Pottery and Choir
Favorite Song: Death with Dignity by Sufjan Stevens
Kyle
Hometown: Plainfield, IL
Major: Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Favorite Veggie: Carrots
Hobby: Hiking and camping
Favorite TV Show: Scream Queens
Riley
Hometown: Palatine, IL
Major: Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
Favorite Veggie: Cucumber
Hobby: Music
Favorite Movie: Spirited Away
Tori
Hometown: Roscoe, IL
Major: Agriculture and Consumer Economics
Favorite Veggie: Arugula
Hobby: Cooking
Favorite Show: Bridgerton
Youseff
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Major: Electrical Engineering
Favorite Veggie: Amaranth
Hobby: Skateboarding
Favorite Song: 20th Century Fox by The Doors
2021 Interns
TY
- Hometown: Houston, TX
- Major: Second Year Graduate Student in The Department of Dance
- Favorite Veggie: Currently Beets & Cilantro
- Hobby: Creating
- Favorite TV Show: Bob’s Burgers
SHALLON
- Hometown: Homewood-Flossmoor IL
- Major: Earth, Society, and Environmental Sustainability & Political Science
- Favorite Veggie: Kale
- Hobby: Making Jewelry
- Favorite Book: Braiding Sweetgrass
MAITHU
- Hometown: Hoffman Estates IL
- Major: Linguistics
- Favorite Veggie: Mushrooms- all varieties!
- Hobby: Sketching & Reading
- Favorite Book: A Clear and Muddy Loss of Love
NINA
- Hometown: Chicago IL
- Major: Animal Sciences
- Favorite Veggie: Broccoli
- Hobby: Gardening
- Favorite Song: Easy by HTHAZE
MCKENNA
- Hometown: Plainfield IL
- Major: Earth, Society, and Environmental Sustainability & Sustainable Design
- Favorite Veggie: Carrots
- Hobby: Drawing
- Favorite Song: Sweet Sunshine Wine by Pearl Charles
AYLA
- Hometown: Springfield IL
- Major: Sociology
- Favorite Veggie: Cilantro
- Hobby: Singing Scottish Folk Music
- Favorite song/movie/book of 2020:
LISA
- Hometown: Kildeer, IL
- Major: Crop Sciences and Computer Science
- Hobby: Cooking
- Hidden Talent: A very fast breaststroke
- Favorite Movie: Fantastic Mr. Fox
TORI
- Hometown: Rochelle IL
- Major: Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
- Favorite Veggie: Brussel Sprouts
- Hobby: Longboarding & Swimming
- Favorite Song: Striptease by Carwash
2020 Interns
Bob Chen
- Hometown: Algonquin, IL
- Major: Agricultural and Biological Engineering
- Favorite Veggie: Lettuce or potatoes
- Hidden Talent: I speak Chinese.
Joe Nugent
- Hometown: Manhattan, IL
- Major: Computer Science and Crop Science
- Minor: English
- Favorite Veggie: Mixed Lettuce
- Hidden Talent: I can play every brass instrument and I am a slam poet.
Tony Rudawski
- Hometown: Harvard, IL
- Major: Technical Systems Management
- Favorite Veggie: Pea Shoot Flowers
- Hidden Talent: I make glass art.