![\"Young](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2025\/01\/hydroponics_tenn_side.png?resize=400%2C329&ssl=1\")
Eva Nyutu\u00a0has spent her entire career teaching college students. But making science fun and engaging for children in Detroit became her focus this past summer.<\/p>\nEva Nyutu\u00a0has spent her entire career teaching college students. But making science fun and engaging for children in Detroit became her focus this past summer.<\/p>\n
Nyutu, an assistant professor of Biology at University of Detroit Mercy, introduced scientific concepts to children by growing plants over the course of several weeks. Various plants were grown using hydroponics, a technique that uses a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil.<\/p>\n
The work with children was a result of a collaboration on hydroponics between UDM\u2019s Titan Equity Nourishment Network (TENN) and Brilliant Detroit, a nonprofit that focuses on helping children become school ready.<\/p>\n
The goal of this collaboration was to bring science to the neighborhood surrounding UDM\u2019s McNichols Campus and increase children\u2019s interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s very important for these students, because this hydroponic project is something that we\u2019re able to bring for them in their classroom and it\u2019s allowing them to affirm themselves as scientists,\u201d Nyutu said.<\/p>\n
Over the course of several weeks, she taught children from kindergarten to fourth grade all about plants during summer camp programming at Brilliant Detroit\u2019s Martin Park location.<\/p>\n
Children learned about the life cycle and different parts of plants and their importance in the ecosystem, all while growing their own using a hydroponics system. Occasionally, Nyutu was joined at Brilliant Detroit by her research students, Kyla Charlebois and Shirli Qushku, and Assistant Professor of Biology Nicole Najor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a way, it\u2019s helping them to develop skills that they\u2019ll continue using as they continue on with elementary, middle and high school,\u201d Nyutu said. \u201cThey might be having fun, but they\u2019re still developing these skills, unknowingly or knowingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nyutu witnessed children learning firsthand when nutrients were added to the hydroponics system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to put nutrients into the hydroponics because it\u2019s only using water to grow,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, they tell me, \u2018I see the nutrient \u2013 when it was blue, it turned green.\u2019 That\u2019s an observation they\u2019re making.\u201d<\/p>\n
Using hydroponics to educate children was an idea sparked by TENN\u2019s previous experience with the method.<\/p>\n
TENN had been working with UDM\u2019s Center for Augmenting Intelligence in Urban Healthcare on a hydroponics project focused on solving problems with food access. That led TENN \u2014 an Institute for Leadership and Service program that fosters student and community collaboration for a more food-sovereign Detroit \u2014 to think of other ways hydroponics could impact people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got these systems, and then with the Ford Community Corps Partnership grant, thought it would be a wonderful learning tool for students,\u201d said Chelsea Manning, TENN\u2019s program manager. \u201cThis idea just came as a way to get Brilliant Detroit their own systems so that they could keep using it and as a tool for learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the way TENN works closely with groups surrounding UDM\u2019s McNichols Campus, Manning said the program has become a \u201ccommunity facilitator\u201d for proposing new ideas and projects that connect individuals and groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always trying to find ways to connect the resources we have on campus with the people we work with,\u201d she said. \u201cObviously, we do great things with food, but there\u2019s so many other things on campus that these groups can benefit from.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving that relationship already with Brilliant Detroit, we were able to help connect the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
While this initial hydroponic project with Brilliant Detroit spanned several weeks in the summer, Nyutu and Manning are working to continue it next summer.<\/p>\n
If it can continue, \u201cthen I think it\u2019s incredibly important to get our students on campus into the community,\u201d Manning said. \u201cNot only because they can share their gifts, but there\u2019s so much learning that the students get when they go work with these kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just the best way for our community to support and learn from each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Nyutu, being able to introduce children to scientific concepts was a rewarding experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust impacting one or more children to understand science, to learn science, to think of themselves as a scientist, that makes my day very happy and fulfilling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eva Nyutu\u00a0has spent her entire career teaching college students. But making science fun and engaging for children in Detroit became her focus this past summer. Nyutu, an assistant professor of Biology at University of Detroit Mercy, introduced scientific concepts to children by growing plants over the course of several weeks. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":8467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9,17,16],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2025\/01\/hydroponics_tenn_side.png?fit=400%2C329&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-2cy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8468,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8466\/revisions\/8468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}