Maura Freeland 

I am a first-year student at Rowan University majoring in Political Science and Sociology and a member of the Honors College. I'm also on Rowan's Club Swim Team and a member of the Rowan Democrats Club. In high school I did work surrunding civic advocacy and voter registration with my town's League of Women voters. Throught high school I worked as a teen staff writer for Sex, Etc., a sexual health magazine and website for teens founded by Answer at Rutgers University. As a senior in high school I was awarded the LWVLT Youth Leadership Award and Lawrence Township Principals and Supervisors Scholarship. Outside of my ademicis, my interest in agriculture stemmed from growing up with a front-row seat to New Jersey farming. I’ve been a 4H kid for as long as I can remember and for most of my teens years, I worked as a produce picker, learning about what made a plant healthy and what the best way to pick a row and fill your tray fastest with the least amount of waste. Starting in the summer of 2018, I worked at a farmers market near my house called Terhune Orchards where I learned about the business side of agriculture. I spent summers and every weekend at the farm prepping and selling produce while taking care of more farm animals then I could handle. Throughout all of this, I rode horses and worked at my barn for lessons and to pay my horse’s board. A farm was always somewhere I felt at home and like I belonged. Having agriculture in my life is something that I’ve missed a lot since moving on campus. To me, having a farm mural in Glassboro on Rowan’s main campus will bring farming a little closer to students who won't otherwise experience it.