Written by: Courtney Pietras, U of M Student If I had to give a title to summarize my internship, it would be called, From the Ground Up: Literally and Figuratively. Literally, as in I have planted grape vines into the ground. Figuratively, in the sense of reflecting upon how much I have grown as an individual, leader, and professionally throughout my internship at Round Lake Vineyards & Winery. I began my internship as the “city girl.” I was clueless about small town culture, had never performed manual labor, and barely knew how a small family business operated. With no friends or family within 100 miles, my journey of growth began alone. As I stepped in the door, only one thing was certain; I was making my first step in pursuit of my dream career in the wine industry. My tasks ranged from selling and educating guests about wine, to writing an article for the winery’s newsletter, to spending an entire day lifting 8 foot logs for posts in the new vineyard. From bartending weddings, to harvesting grapes, to being smothered in newly pressed grape juice. From creating operation procedures and menu items for the newly installed food truck, to bottling wine, to barrel tasting. I concluded my internship by hosting a tasting at a local liquor store, and as I reflect upon what I learned and accomplished these past six months, I am ecstatic for my future endeavors in the professional world. Being the type-A perfectionist that I am, I quickly learned that humiliation and mortification was all a part of the learning process. Within 30 minutes of my first day on the job, I shattered a wine bottle. Later that day, I was corrected for misusing a janitorial mop. With the influx of information I was given early on, I was so focused on not messing up that I even began to memorize and create my own systematic method for how I should greet and sell wine to guests. It wasn’t until Scott, the owner of the winery, caught me attempting to memorize my robotic method, that I realized I was missing the point. “Why are you trying to memorize how to talk to people? I know you know how to be personable with others, so stop trying to be a robot. Relax and smile. You are an intern, and making mistakes is all a part of the process.” After Scott’s words of wisdom, my confidence was boosted, I was much more relaxed and began to thrive from the mental challenge of creating sales pitches that were unique to every individual's wine taste preferences. Working in the tasting room made me interested in applying for jobs in sales because although rejection can be frequent, the self-fulfillment I received from guests’ compliments, influx of purchases, and the overall sense of making the winery a destination was empowering. Round Lake Vineyards & Winery had only been open for a year, so the owners were always seeking new opportunities and brainstorming ideas to grow their business. With the desire for constant improvement instilled in the work climate, trial and error methods and structural were applied frequently, and being a bystander was never an option because there is always room for progress. It was not until overseeing the newly installed food truck that I could grasp the ability to accept that plans will sporadically change. I was the one reporting solutions and problems to the owners. My intention as an intern was to gain a well-rounded experience for how the wine industry works, so with the variety of tasks I was assigned, I became the “go-to” person wherever help was needed around the property. Overcoming my personal challenges of accepting mistakes and frequent change enabled me to step out of my comfort zone and create relationships with colleagues, which lead to Round Lake becoming my second home.
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Written by: Megan Schulte, U of M Student During my internship with Clark County 4-H and Agricultural Extension, I was able to work with the extension agents to mold my internship around my interests. With my background in 4-H, I wanted to do a wide variety of tasks within their county program. Growing up on a dairy farm, I have a huge interest in all things that have to do with cows. So when it came to Ag Extension, I was luckily able to focus on the dairy and crop side of things! For example, I had the opportunity to help coach the county’s 4-H dairy judging team after their coach retired. At the end of the summer, I was able to chaperone the dairy kids from the county on their trip to the state fair. The first week of my internship, I started planning three different summer camps. The first camp was a 4-day, 3-night extended camp for older 4-H members. It was held at a private lakefront campground, and we were able to go hiking, swimming, and canoeing every day! One of my favorite memories was when the campers performed the skits they had been preparing throughout their time at camp. After that camp, I planned and facilitated two other camps: an overnight for middle school 4-H’ers and a day camp for Cloverbuds and Explorers. After camp season ended, I dove right into planning two events for the Clark County Fair. The first was an end-of-the-year party for 4-H’ers to celebrate the accomplishments of the year. This event was held at the dairy show arena. There were various activities and games for members to play, and we also recognized some of the major accomplishments of various members (including the results from the dairy judging contest and the awards members won at the Wisconsin State Fair). The second event I planned was a showcase of various theater projects. The theater aspect of 4-H is something that is often forgotten, as the performances don’t occur at the county fair. This event allowed the members involved in that project to showcase their talents to visitors at the county fair. With a lot of my time over the summer spent on 4-H, I didn’t have a lot of time to work with the Agricultural Extension agent. However, I was able to help do a few tasks including counting bug traps around the county. Whenever I had spare time, I was able to travel around the county and tour dairy farms, including two different robotic milking set ups and the USDA farm in Marshfield, Wisconsin. I was able to utilize other talents unrelated to agriculture throughout this internship as well. Because of my passion for photography and Clark County’s need for photos from various 4-H events, I was able to capture high-quality images that were used in their newsletter and on social media outlets. At the extended summer camp, I took pictures of the members participating in activities, designed a slideshow, and created a DVD each of the campers. 2/14/2017 0 Comments internship spotlight: Land o'lakes/winfield's integrated marketing communications teamWritten by: Heather Franke, U of M Alumna Last summer, I spent my time interning for Land O’ Lakes on WinField’s Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) team. This team facilitates the strategic planning and execution of marketing communication for all WinField brands, to help drive business. As their intern, I supported the IMC team by helping manage day-to-day needs of several communication projects with internal teams, agency partners, and vendors. I also helped launch a new brand called HarvXtra®. Being involved in various communication projects truly absorbed me into the team’s efforts and served as an incredibly valuable summer. This experience was made up of excellent opportunities to learn from some of the best subject matter experts and passionate marketing team members. My primary project involved organizing the asset collection for the newly launched HarvXtra® alfalfa with Roundup Ready® Technology. For this assignment, I connected with grower customers to plan a photo shoot of the alfalfa. From the photo shoot, the team collected assets for any future marketing communication efforts for HarvXtra®. I’m incredibly grateful to have experienced the marketing communication process first-hand with a great company. I am most thankful to have learned from the team members who truly embraced me as their intern and held me responsible for a summer full of growth! My passion for the agricultural industry only expanded because of the great people I worked with and the wonderful talents they shared with me. Exposure to people like the WinField IMC team will only make my career in agriculture more rewarding, and I hope to offer the same support to others on their way, too. The summer of 2016 was one for the books, that’s for sure! Pictured here: IMC team members (including photographers, drone operations and HarvXtra® experts) on the day of our photoshoot in beautiful Eastern Wisconsin. This picture was taken from a drone! So cool! From left to right: HarvXtra® marketing leader Alison Foxx, the professional photographer, an account executive from the agency, Heather Franke, a HarvXtra® employee, a creative director from the agency, and the drone operators. Written by: Brianna Opdahl, U of M Sophomore This summer, I had the opportunity to be a Youth Camp Counselor for Minnesota Farmers Union. This meant spending my summer playing in the sun, swimming in lakes, and sleeping in cabins with no AC! Throughout the summer, we would work with elementary kids for two weeks, junior high for the next two, and then one week with high school students. On the first day at my new job, I was teamed up with seven strangers, and told that we had two weeks to prepare all of our lessons and materials before camps started for the summer. We had to create eight different lesson plans and then adjust them to the three different age groups. We also had to think of fun crafts and recreational activities to keep them entertained during free time. The rest of the summer would be spent facilitating the camps and then coming back to the office to make “Memory Books” for the campers. These books are filled with pictures of them and their friends from throughout the summer and then are distributed to every camper who attended camp. Extras are kept as promotional material for Minnesota Farmers Union to use as encouragement for youth to come to camp. This experience helped me grow as a person and develop news skills! Some of the challenges I faced along the way involved my fellow teammates. The eight of us were expected to spend every hour together for the entirety of the summer. I had to learn to adapt to each of their individual personalities in order to efficiently cooperate and come together as a team. If we couldn’t work together as a team, campers would notice - and that wasn’t something we wanted. Learning to deal with different personalities is a skill that I am going to use for the rest of my life, whether it’s in the workplace or in my personal life. This internship put me in many different situations that were out of my comfort zone, but I was able to work through them and complete whatever task or project was at hand. The biggest highlight was how much I was able to develop my communication skills. They were tested many different ways! For example, there were times where I would disagree with another counselor, but we had to figure out how to resolve it before it started effecting our interactions with the campers. I also had to use my communication skills to present lessons to the campers throughout the week. There were many different settings in which lesson facilitation took place. Sometimes we would be in a large group with all 80 campers listening to the counselors. At other times, we would break into our “families” (small groups of 10 campers) and present the lesson to them. At times, switching back and forth was very difficult, but doing so gave me practice teaching to different sized groups. This is a skill that will be very useful at my future jobs! Whatever the setting, I feel that I am better prepared than I was before I started this internship. By Libby Wilts, U of M Sophomore This summer, I worked with the youth of Redwood County focusing on building lifelong skills such as leadership, team building, cooking, sewing, environmental occurrences, livestock care, applied science and much more. A common fear of people my age is making phone calls. With my summer internship, I needed to be active on the phone to find volunteers and plan events. Throughout my twelve week internship, I gained a greater comfort talking to others on the phone, which is something I will always carry with me. When people are working with agriculture - and more specifically 4-H - there is a common goal and people will most likely have a great attitude for working with this organization. You just need to go in with a positive attitude!
In the past, I tried to avoid horses. Discovering that a horse leadership camp was something I needed to organize and execute caused me to have mixed emotions. I worked with several people who provided great resources and knowledge for this camp. All of the young people participating in the camp learned so much about working with each other and developing better direction-giving and patience. It was a fun and educational day for all, including myself. |
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January 2020
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