Written by: Christopher Graff, Agricultural Communication & Marketing Major
I had an internship with the University of Minnesota’s Department of Soil, Water, and Climate (SWAC), which provided me the opportunity to work on many different projects being carried out by the field crew researchers. I was even able to help lead part of our crew. Throughout the summer I collected soil and plant samples, and then processed those samples on campus. It was a lot of the same work done multiple different times. After the summer was over, I was on campus everyday due to conflicts with my classes, but it provided me with the opportunity to be more of a leader for the other student workers. Because I was serving in my second year with the crew, I was asked to jump in wherever the department needed help and saw what it was like to be in a crucial position within an organization. This allowed me to learn more about the actual practice of leadership, instead of just reading and discussing leadership theories in class. I determined what type of leader I’d be in those situations in the field when I was asked to lead the students and especially when I was on campus without our departmental supervisors present. I enjoyed the increased responsibility and being put in a leadership positions. One day all the students went out to a field with just a graduate student, and I was selected to be in charge. Being put in that position humbled me, mostly because I did not think I would be the best person to be in that position but also because the graduate student was perfectly capable acting as leader. He was also much older than me. Even once the field season was over, many of the other students would still come to me to ask questions about things that we were doing, instead of going to our superior. This was also a cool experience that came from the fact that I was working there for a longer period of time, and that the other students could see that I was not slacking in my job. While most of the work involved collecting and processing soil samples, which I found fun, the process of grinding them down was much less enjoyable. The photo below shows just part of the soil sampling process.
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Written by: Brady Tiede, Agricultural Communication & Marketing Major
These two photos show one of my favorite days on the job as an Ag Partners intern. Reporting my micronutrient trial findings to growers was one of my favorite days as an Ag Partners intern. It was a great experience to be able to take work that I had done and turn it into a sales tool. To be able to present something to a grower and have them respond with enthusiasm and interest in the products became a very rewarding part of my work. My internship taught me a lot about agronomy and sales. I have been exposed to some of the best training that interns are offered. I have been out in the fields learning hands-on about crops and everything that agronomists do. I have learned about the meaning of service and the importance on maintaining good relationships with growers. I also had the opportunity deepen my understanding of this agricultural focus at plot days hosted by WinField. This was the best experience of my summer because it gave me an opportunity to network with others in the industry and learn about some of the most innovative products on the market. This internship led to great relationships and future internship offers for next summer. Written by: Jake Scodro, Agricultural Communication and Marketing Over the summer, when I was employed by Channel 44, in Evansville, Indiana. I worked within the creative services department. Each day I helped write the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. promotions, gathered news stories from anchors, wrote anchors a 10- to 15-second script; 15 seconds for the 5 p.m. slot and 10 seconds for the 6 p.m. slot. I worked with other interns on an overall project making a 30-second promo for the lead anchor Amanda Decker and personality host Gretchin Irons. On slow days the intern supervisor, Martin Rieford, would send out to other branches of the station. I spent a day with finance, sales, programming, anchors, and reporters and experienced all the facets that make the station run. At channel 44 I also had the opportunity to film a commercial live, and to see the coordination and effort that goes into a mere 30 seconds is incredible. The station had one person with the camera and another with the power box, who would act as the cameraperson’s guide if they need to walk backwards. Then there was the cord person who made sure that the cords from the battery to the camera would not hit the ground and become tangled on the feet of the other two. We were there until the station closed to film spots every 15 minutes. I also served as a fire support officer for the U.S. Army during the summer. In this role, I am attached to field artillery unit 2-136 based out of Anoka, Minnesota. This includes planning missions, calling live artillery rounds on a target, and learning new pieces of equipment, such as radio, light-armored vehicles akin to tanks, and range binoculars, which are binoculars that locate your position based on the sun and stars and gives you precision coordinates on targets. Knowing these pieces of equipment is essential to being a fire support officer.
During this internship, the calling for fire with live rounds was something I had never done before, and the contrast between live rounds and the simulator is astonishing. In the simulation, once the round lands, the smoke is relatively small and dissipates quickly. This is not the case in real life, where the sand and dirt hang in the air for minutes, getting thicker when each round hits; so much so that you can no longer see the target. I had a fantastic time in both of my internships, especially learning how much effort goes into a 30-second spot and working in a television station. I will never look at news or TV the same again. In the military it was a great chance to lead and try new things while learning new pieces of equipment that I may have to interact with in the future, and it was nice to see the differences between the civilian and military world. Both have their own unique pros and cons and culture. Written by: Wendy Bauman, Agricultural Communication and Marketing This summer, I served as a group leader at Welcome Days, which is a program that is part of Education First (EF) High School Exchange Year (HSEY). EF is an international education company and has many branches, one of which is High School Exchange Year. High School Exchange Year gives students from 13 different countries in Europe and Asia the opportunity to have an exchange year in the United States. I spent my summer in Thornwood, NY and interacted with more than 1,000 high school exchange students that came through our program. Welcome Days is the first stop on a student’s exchange year. After departing their home country, they fly into Newark International Airport or John F. Kennedy International Airport and EF Welcome Days staff greet them. From the airport, students are transported back to EF Academy where Welcome Days is based. As the week continues, students engage in activities throughout campus that discuss and facilitate learning about cultural exchange, living with a host family, making friends in a new country, and American traditions. This preparation also gives students the chance to meet students going to their same state. The quantity of students at Welcome Days varies each week, with the lowest amount being 150 to the highest at 475. As a group leader, I was responsible for 10-25 students all going to the same state and served as their facilitator and key resource on campus. Following the classroom day, students experience New York City and an American homecoming. Group leaders and ambassadors led students through New York City to visit major destinations including Central Park, the Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park, and Times Square. Upon returning from New York City, students are exposed to American homecoming festivities complete with games, American junk food, a homecoming dance, costume contests, and team spirit activities. The next day, students are brought to the airport to fly to meet their host families. One of the greatest takeaways from my summer in Thornwood was the connections I made with fellow staff members. Three groups of people make up the staff and include senior staff, group leaders, and ambassadors. Senior staff are full-time EF employees from various locations in the United States and serve as incredible mentors who are extremely knowledgeable about the programming of EF HSEY and Welcome Days. Group leaders are typically American college students that serve as students’ point person during the Welcome Days experience. Ambassadors are foreign exchange students who have completed their exchange year and are essentially the “hype people” of Welcome Days. They share their experiences as exchange students and provide maximum energy during airport days, classroom experiences, and visits to New York City. The people in the photo above became a second family to me during my time in New York. There is an unbelievable amount of bonding that takes place in the early hours of the morning on airport days, the late evenings doing bed checks, the stress that comes from bed-making and challenging students, and the exhaustion that comes from four 14-hour days.
Written by: Megan Slater, Agricultural Communication and Marketing This summer and fall I had the privilege of working with Anoka and Dakota County 4-H. As an intern for the 4-H program I ran several activities such as summer outreach programs, recruitment events, and of course, getting ready for the County Fair! The biggest role I had with Anoka County was developing my own programming about Polymers to deliver at a low-income housing site. I had to coordinate lessons, partner with an Extension Nutrition Educator, and coordinate food for the participants every week. I was fortunate enough to gain experience in two different counties, one more rural and the other urban. This demonstrated to me how inclusive the 4-H program is and how many youth it engages. With this diversity, I was able to work with youth from several backgrounds from kindergarten through their first year of college. My biggest takeaway from this experience is that in order to grow, you need to step out of your comfort zone. I struggled with reverting back to the way that things were always done in the county program that I grew up in, and here I was working in two completely different counties. I learned that just because something has always been done a certain way, it does not necessarily mean it is the right way. I am so thankful to have had two supportive programs and staff to work with for the last seven months! Written by: Renae Larson, Agricultural Communication and Marketing My internship with University of Minnesota-Extension Poultry allowed me to experience what it was like to be a communicator within the agricultural livestock industry. I spent most of my time working in an office on the university’s St. Paul campus writing blogs, scheduling Facebook posts, editing and crediting videos, adding closed captions on YouTube videos, compiling and analyzing data to create a research report, and working in Qualtrics creating surveys and content for biosecurity audit principles. I had the opportunity to network with other Extension educators at monthly meetings and conferences too, but the highlight of my internship was working with Minnesota 4-H. I had the pleasure of attending one of the 4-H Livestock Day Camps in Farmington with Abby Neu, a poultry Extension educator, to present biosecurity education using the Biosecure Entry Education Trailer (BEET) unit. My day consisted of connecting with four different groups of kids, each choosing to educate themselves on a specific animal species: rabbits, meat goats, beef or swine. By the end, the level of attentiveness and passion within each and every attendee blew me away. Abby and I had such a great time educating the kids on biosecurity. Many of them were already conscientious about biosecurity with their animals but through the presentation and activities in the BEET trailer they were able to learn something new. Collectively, the kids exuded excitement during our sessions that carried the mood the entire day.
My biggest take away from the day was the intelligence and kindness of the entire 4-H community. The camp gave kids who are passionate about agriculture, livestock, natural resources, and the environment an opportunity to learn more about what interests them in a fun environment. It gave 4-Her’s a place to express their own farm experiences and knowledge amongst like-minded people. It gave them a chance to exhibit the plethora of facts on species of livestock they’ve spent hours studying through friendly games. Because Extension professionals wear many hats, I had the opportunity to engage in various projects this summer outside of the 4-H presentation. Technology and online platforms play a major role in the communication and marketing industries. In the agricultural communication and marketing field, knowing how to utilize programs, software, and social media sites is key to spreading messages and reaching your intended audiences. Working as a communications intern in Extension, I was exposed to numerous online communication tools that I had never used prior to the internship. The online programs I spent most of my summer working in were WeVideo, Qualtrics, YouTube, and Facebook. Learning how to navigate each of these was a challenge, but I truly believe knowing how to use these technologies and online programs and understanding key audiences will add value to any position I face in the future. Beyond specific projects, this internship allowed me to grow as an individual in a professional sense. I spent the majority of my working hours by myself. This time pushed me to further develop being a self-starter, and when I completed projects, I took the initiative to begin the next project or work on content I knew needed to get done. When I attended conferences and meetings, I also gained a sense of professionalism. These experiences trained me to communicate as a professional and allowed me to feel like I had responsibility and a place within Extension. Overall, this internship experience prepared me for opportunities down the road because I learned many skills and became comfortable with my personal strengths. Written by: Leanne Adamsky, Agricultural Communication and Marketing My internship over the summer was with a local craft meat company called Mighty Spark Food Co. I was hired as one of their five experiential marketing interns. In this role, I worked alongside four other college students to run our stand at the Minneapolis Farmers Market. Our role was to be brand ambassadors, and to sell the product to local customers at the market. Some tasks included learning more about the company and the products we were selling, understanding how to cook the meat properly so we could serve ready-to-eat products and samples, and creating a loyal fan base who would continue to buy Mighty Spark Food Co. products in local grocery stores. I had many professional opportunities because of my internship. The biggest opportunity was obtaining major-specific experience in a new and relevant field. My major is Agricultural Communication and Marketing, and I had no idea what I was going to do with it. This internship allowed me to use my skills in communication to tell the story of how Mighty Spark Food Co. became the brand it is today.
Telling the company story drives sales, mostly because customers like shopping locally. If it was not for the interns at the Minneapolis Farmers Market, most people would not know that Mighty Spark Food Co. is a local company, and that it actually was founded at that same farmers market. At the end of the summer, I had more exposure to product management. My task was to go to local grocery stores and see how our product was selling, which included setting up product displays, restocking shelves to ensure customers to maintain full instocks, and speaking to the meat manager about how our products were selling in the store. It is hard to pinpoint one key experience that I had, just because the whole summer was a summer of experience. The best thing I got out of this internship was experience. Working for Mighty Spark Food Co. gave me experience that I both wanted and needed going into my senior year of college. I did not have a lot of experience connected to my new major, and my internship perfectly blended all the things I wanted and needed to get me a job post-graduation. I cannot recommend this internship enough. From the day of my in-person interview, I was pushed way out of my comfort zone. This opportunity made me a more experienced professional, and an overall better person. If any students are interested in this position, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions! Written by: Katherine Gathje, Agricultural Communication & Marketing Major
My name is Katherine Gathje, and this summer I had the opportunity to serve as the Extension Agriculture and Horticulture Intern for Meeker and McLeod Counties. I really enjoyed the variety each day, and I learned new skills all the time. My largest project was to create a video or a video series about livestock safety to be used for the tractor safety certification program and others. This was a joint project between me and the Extension intern for Stearns and Benton Counties. The two of us were able to create a common vision and a series of three videos that focused on different aspects of livestock safety and handling. We enhanced several professional skills through this project, as we had to write the script and create visuals for the video. We also spent an afternoon filming the video clips at my farm and then pieced them together to create the finished projects. This led me to complete storyboards for videos about livestock trailer safety and coaching 4-H dairy judging. Each week I was responsible for several key pieces of Extension work. My supervisor and I were on the radio every Tuesday to share important updates about crop, yard and garden problems and suggestions on how to fix them. I also wrote one to two articles each week, which were compiled into a news release that local media outlets and area homeowners received, and I managed two Facebook pages; one for Extension and one for Master Gardeners. I found articles and events relevant to those particular audiences and shared them. I also created many posts using Canva to update followers on any happenings. An Extension Educator spends much of their their day answering people’s questions and providing them with useful information. I was able to help answer homeowners’ questions and assist with research that will help farmers in the area. I also enjoyed attending local events where I built my professional network and shared Extension resources with others. I am very grateful for my time with University of Minnesota-Extension, and I know that it has prepared me well for my next internship. I was able to gain experience in event planning, communications, facilitation, and so much more that will help no matter where I am. I enjoyed the fact that every day was different because if I didn’t love what I was doing one day, I was still excited to get to work and learn what would be happening the next day. Written by: Brandon Zuidema, Agricultural Communication & Marketing Major
My internship experience was filled with wonderful learning opportunities, many new relationships, and resounding confirmation of what I want to do once I graduate. I interned with DuPont Pioneer last summer covering southeastern Minnesota and a small portion of northern Minnesota. My role was agronomy and sales, and I was matched with a mentor within the team to be sort of a go to with any questions I had, or if I needed a project or something to do during the week. The internship is very well organized and has a great structure. They start with an orientation at their headquarters for all interns and then also had a more localized one for the Minnesota/Wisconsin team. After those two orientations you are very well set up to succeed and know what is on your plate for the summer. My time was spent doing a long list of things, and no day was the same. There were a few main goals or projects that they had in place for me and the other interns in the area but beyond that we were able to fill our days with things that interested us. Pioneer’s main goal of their internship program is to allow the intern to decide what they want to focus on learning throughout the summer and they work with you to make sure that happens. Because I was able to have some decision making opportunities throughout the internship, I was able to learn a lot in a short period of time. At the beginning of the internship I sat down with my mentor and we created a list of the goals that I was looking to accomplish as a part of the Pioneer team. I am glad to say I accomplished all those goals and more. One learning opportunity was to take the little agronomy knowledge I had and deepen it. Within the first week I had a few "aha" moments when some term or concept was brought up and I was able to relate it to something I learned in a class I had taken. These moments made me happy knowing the knowledge I have gained over the years was being put to use and even expanded. Another learning point for me was when I was out doing customer work with growers. One of our main projects was to go speak with lost customers and find out why they no longer planted Pioneer seed. At first I was excited about cold calling and working with farmers, but I quickly hit a bump in the road. My excitement quickly faded after the first three calls when I was either told a quick no or the customer yelled at me. I remember having to take a step back and look at the process I was taking. I talked with the employee who was leading the project and she told me to forget those calls and keep doing the great work I was doing. Soon enough I had four meetings set up and my excitement in the project was high again. This project was my first real world experience with sales in agriculture and hearing no over and over. I let in faze me at first but a little pep talk and reflection and I was back on my A game. A final learning opportunity was listening to so many individuals who are around agricultural sales and gathering as much wisdom as possible. I am so glad I met many amazing Pioneer employees who wanted to get to know me, share their story and how they got to where they are, and help me with my future goals. One key highlight was all the people I got to meet and the relationships that I made. Because I covered a large area there was a large group of people that I was able to be around for my summer. I was around Pioneer sales reps, agronomist, area managers, district managers, and so many other vital employees. This was one goal for my summer, and I am so glad I was able to see so many different sides of the business. Another highlight was meeting other great interns from around the country. I still keep in touch with many of them today and loved hearing how their internship experience was going throughout the summer. Also throughout the summer I was able to visit places that play various roles within Pioneer. I went to a research site as well as a production plant. These are things that we interns wanted to do and because of the freedom Pioneer gives us we were able to. We got tours through the whole facility and were able to take as much time as we wanted to ask questions and see how the processes worked. A final experience I want to share is being able to grow not only in my agricultural skills but also personally and as a leader. There were many opportunities to reflect on my experience and talk with individuals who could share what they thought I excelled at and also what I could work on. Everyone I interacted with truly cared about my success in the future even if it wasn’t with Pioneer. I am so grateful for my summer experience with Pioneer and would highly recommend it! Written by: Krista Styer, Agricultural Communication & Marketing This summer, my internship was at the Wisconsin Holstein Association located in Baraboo, Wisconsin. I was responsible for many things throughout the summer, such as managing district and state Holstein shows across Wisconsin, writing articles for the Wisconsin Holstein News, attending events with the Wisconsin Holstein Association, and most importantly, planning the 2017 Wisconsin Holstein Association Futurity. There are nine district Holstein shows in Wisconsin, and they all happen within a week and a half time frame. I attended six of them, and the other intern and staff covered the other three. We would typically have one intern and one staff member at each show. For managing the district shows, there was a lot of work that I did prior to the shows. I had to update all of the show materials and forms from the year prior, make copies of all of the information to send to each district show chair, and coordinate showmanship contest details with the Junior Activity Committee chairs. I also had to prepare the list of members who hadn’t paid their yearly Wisconsin Holstein Association dues yet. When we got to the shows, I would help check cattle in, give exhibitors their back tags for showing, answer questions that exhibitors had about the show, help run the show the day of, and take photos during the show. I would also have to update the show catalog with any entry changes the night before the show. I had the opportunity to interview some Wisconsin Holstein members and write articles about them for the Wisconsin Holstein News. One specific event that I attended with the Wisconsin Holstein Association this summer was when we brought a Holstein cow and calf to the local public library in Baraboo. This was for a day at the library where kids could come and learn about dairy animals and agriculture. There were many elements that went into planning the Futurity show, which will be discussed later in the blog post. This summer at my internship I learned a multitude of important things. One of the most memorable things I learned was how to be more assertive in a job position rather than passive. In the beginning of my internship, I often found that I was doubting my abilities and not making decisions when given the chance. Throughout my time in Baraboo at WHA, I learned how to make decisions and stand by them, and how to be more assertive with my opinions and ideas at the office while still remaining kind and respectful. Another key thing that I learned this summer is how to effectively deal with conflict. While at shows collecting late membership fees from Wisconsin Holstein members, members sometimes didn’t want to comply with paying their late fees. At first I found it difficult to approach people and tell them that they had to pay if they wanted to show their cattle the next day, but after a few encounters, I had started to learn a better way to go about a situation such as this. While trying to manage shows and collect late fees, I also found that some people would doubt my abilities because I was “just the intern.” I found myself becoming frustrated when the members wouldn’t trust me because I had already been to multiple shows and knew what my duties were as an intern at that point. I learned that it was best to not get upset at the members who accused me of not knowing what I was doing, and instead show them that I was capable of the task at hand and more. At the end of a show, it was satisfying for me to know that I completed my tasks carefully and accurately even though I was “just the intern.”
One final key thing that I learned this summer was how to live three hours away from home. Having been at college for two years already, you would think that I would know how to be away from home. While this is true, I wasn’t used to being away from home during the summer. During the summer is when I work with my show animals, catch up with my high school friends, and work on my family’s dairy farm. Admittedly, it was difficult for me to be away from a lot of my favorite things for three months. I would come home to visit every so often, but that was very different from getting to work on my family’s farm and work with my dairy show heifers every day. Once I learned how to live away from all of my favorite summer things, life in Baraboo for the summer was great. I lived with a wonderful host family who often showed me around the Baraboo area and let me help out on their family’s dairy farm. I had a great internship that allowed me to do things that I loved every day. Also, I had the opportunity to create a whole new network of contacts all over the state of Wisconsin. After I settled into my new Baraboo lifestyle, I realized that it was just different than what I was used to. Some of my key experiences this summer at the Wisconsin Holstein Association included taking pictures at shows, planning the Futurity show, bringing a cow and calf to a library, and designing programs and other graphic design elements for the Wisconsin Holstein Association. While at shows, my supervisors let me take charge with the camera and take photos from the beginning to the end. It wasn’t uncommon for me to end up with at least a few hundred photos from each show to post on Facebook. This was such a key experience for me because I absolutely love photography, and my supervisors recognized that and let me work in my preferred area at the shows, as well as getting experience with the other management parts of a district Holstein show. One of my proudest accomplishments of the summer was planning the 31st Annual WHA Futurity show. Over the course of the summer, I contacted caterers, ordered the judge’s tux, coordinated volunteers for the show, found convertibles to use for the grand entrance of the officials at the show, attended Futurity committee meetings, designed the show programs, contacted exhibitors about their entries, contacted sponsors about prize money, and coordinated things on the day of the show . I spent the whole summer planning this event, so when everything went so smoothly on the day of the show, it made all of my hard work worth it. One of the most fun days at work was when we brought a cow and calf to the local library in Baraboo. The morning started out with stories in the library read by the Wisconsin Holstein Royalty. The stories were about agriculture and the dairy industry, and it was great to see so many children show up to learn about agriculture. After the stories were done, the kids got to go outside to see the cow and calf. They were able to pet them and learn more about dairy animals. It was awesome to see children so excited about agriculture. My final key experience from my summer internship experience was the opportunities that I had to design things, such as graphics for Facebook posts or the programs for the Futurity. I really enjoy creating things and using my artistic talents in that way, so I was glad to be able to have the chance to electronically design some things this summer. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2020
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