Last spring, a fundraising campaign during Birds Give Back funded a new internship at Illinois State University Horticulture Center.
Horticulture is the study and practice of the cultivation of plants and garden management. Bloomington native Amelie Mwilambwe is passionate about knowing and educating people on where food comes from and what you put into your body, including when pesticides are used in chemicals and even water. Mwilambwe spends some of her free time working for Cook Farms, an organic farm in Bloomington. She loves to cook, has a vegetable garden at home, and is part of the Student Sustainability Committee.
Mwilambwe began her journey at Illinois State in fall 2021 after graduating from Normal Community High School. During her first semester on campus, she took ARG 120 Introductory Horticulture with instructor Nick Pershey ’09. Later she met Horticulture Center Director Jessica Chambers ’93. Mwilambwe asked Chambers if there were any projects she could help with. As a result, Mwilambwe spent time collecting seeds from various plants around the center.
The following semester, Mwilambwe did an independent study with Chambers, preparing the horticulture center for the Autumnal Festival. She created signs and verbiage for various plants. Following Birds Give Back in February, Chambers was able to offer Mwilambwe an internship opportunity she gladly accepted.
Mwilambwe began working one week after spring classes ended. Her daily tasks varied by month. In May and June, she spent two hours daily watering the greenhouse to ensure the water reached the bounded roots. June and July tasks included planting, weeding, clearing out plants, mowing, and landscaping. Mwilambwe also visited gardening centers to select plants that went with the annual theme, “Plant Curiosities: Uncovering the hidden wonders of the botanical world.”
Toward the end of summer, Mwilambwe maintained and edged the beddings.
“I can’t deny it was really fun to learn to drive a tractor and the Kubota,” Mwilambwe said of being properly trained by Pershey on the various equipment housed at the Horticulture Center. “You don’t come by many women in the field who can do that sort of thing. So, I am glad to know these sorts of things and have them as a resource for the future.”
Now, Mwilambwe is focused on her course work for the semester and is working with a microbial ecology professor and Ph.D. student doing research on how different bacteria in a bee’s gut system interacts with one another.
“My strategy in college has been if I cannot find something that is exactly what I want to do in the niche subject I am looking for, then I grab from different areas and cherry pick experiences to someday put them together when I get the opportunity to do my own research,” said Mwilambwe, who currently hopes to study sustainable agriculture and food security. “What I am looking for in a career is something that is interdisciplinary that pulls from different areas. I like the big picture of things and appreciate being able to tie everything together.”
Mwilambwe said staff have been supportive of her creative vision.
“I have not met ISU staff, faculty, or administration who doesn’t seriously care about the well-being of students,” she said. “I think it’s a really nice place to be if you want to figure out what you are doing and grow as a person.”
