Kelly Brannan of Morgantown, a 2023 graduate of Grove City College, was part of a team of students that built a unique self-contained aquaponics system that was used to grow lettuce in a city garden for a community in need.

The growing system, which included a series of tanks that used the flow of water to turn fish waste into fertilizer, was designed and built by students in Engineers With a Mission, a community service organization. "I was a member my senior year because they needed people to help with the fish and the plants," said Brannan, who majored in biology.

In May, members of the Grove City College student organization installed the sustainable growing system at a community garden supported by Envision Cleveland, a Christian Missionary and Alliance ministry. "We built it in Grove City to make sure it worked and to iron out any problems before we got to Cleveland," explained Brannan. "We disassembled it and reassembled it in Cleveland. The people we were working with were called Envision Cleveland, and they have a big community garden and they had two greenhouses set up there. We assembled the project in one of the greenhouses."

According to Brannan, water was pumped from a holding tank into the fish tank, which contained about a dozen tilapia. Water then flowed into a solids filtration tank, where the fish waste sank to the bottom and the nitrates the system used as fertilizer rose to the top. That tank was fed into a grow bed filled with clay pebbles where seeds and plants were fed by the fertilizer and the water moving through it.

"The system was meant to run all summer and keep the plants in there growing," Brannan noted. "At the end of the grow season, (people) were able to eat the fish as well."

She said that the hydroponics system produced fresh lettuce. "That area in Cleveland is called a 'food desert.' Even though they are in a major city, they don't always have access to fresh fruits and vegetables," Brannan said. "The goal of the project and community garden is to get fresh fruits and vegetables to people who live in that city."

While there, the college students were able to meet some of the clients of Envision Cleveland and assist with other projects. "They had some raised beds in the garden, and there was a rain barrel project they were working on, and we were able to help out with that," said Brannan. "You have to be willing to serve and provide help in any capacity needed."

While designing and building the system, the students learned some real-world lessons in project management, communication, logistics and fundraising. "We had an electrical engineering team, a mechanical engineering team, a fluids team and a bio team," said Brannan. "We all had to make sure we were communicating and on the same page both during the brainstorming and the building process. Communication and teamwork were a big thing."

She noted that both these skills, along with a willingness to provide assistance to others, will come in handy this fall at her new job - teaching science and Bible to sixth-grade students at High Point Baptist Academy in Geigertown.