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Agricultural Communication & Journalism Internships

Tag: Communication

Feed The Future Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics – Malerie Strahm

Posted on by chantelles

Have you ever heard of an on-campus job turned internship? When I took a part-time job with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics in January 2015, I never would have believed how far it would bring me. What started out as doing odd communications jobs here and there for the lab turned into bigger jobs and some of the best experiences I’ve had so far!

The Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics is one of four Feed the Future labs housed here at K-State. I was hired to bring a communications aspect to the group and develop social media like some of the other labs had done already. Then, when I talked to my supervisor and academic advisor about doing a full-time internship over the summer, they said ‘Why not?’

Unique is one way to describe my experience. Unlike most internships, it felt more like an entry-level job rather than an internship, as I didn’t have much professional guidance at first. I feel like that really gave me an opportunity to grow by making me reach out beyond the office and figure things out for myself. It was also unique because I was able to work part-time for the new Wheat Genetics Resource Center Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (WGRCI/UCRC). Both Organizations share information and overlap with much of their research.

My main responsibilities for the Innovation Lab included writing press releases, developing print materials and posters, filming a short overview video, maintaining the two lab websites, and developing social media (Facebook and Twitter). For the WGRCI/UCRC I developed and implemented a new logo and color scheme for the organization and designed a poster and flyer to use at events. I also developed a new website using the K-State web server that was easier on the eyes and to navigate.

Seeing the work I’ve done go to places like Washington, DC and receiving emails that my work has been in the hands of people like senator Jerry Moran has definitely been a rewarding and a favorite part of my internship.  Although not having a supervisor well versed in the world of communications was at times a challenge, I know that the experience I gained was valuable.

Much of my work in this internship was design-based because I was given jobs according to my skills and I was able to grow those skills. My future plans include a possible job opportunity connected to this internship that would give me even more experience in graphic design.

As you can see, this internship was a special case but the lab is hiring a new intern for the summer and would like that intern to continue in the fall. I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in general communications because you will do a little bit of everything! You can also tailor it to meet your skill set and interest. To apply, email our program coordinator Haley Ahlers at halhlers@ksu.edu.

AG am – Sam Capoun

Posted on by chantelles

Sam - AG am

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sam - AG am 2

Our Town, Our Food

Livestock Sale Barn

AG am in Kansas, produced by Farming Unlimited, Inc., is a daily broadcast television program focusing on all aspects of agriculture in the state of Kansas. Based out of Topeka, the company works with different organizations and individuals to showcase and promote agriculture.

This summer I had the opportunity to be an intern for AG am in Kansas. My job duties were to produce, host and edit television segments. I began my internship in late May and finished in early August.

During my first few days of the internship, I was asked to format a plan outlining what I wanted to accomplish this summer. Not everyone gets a chance to be on television, so I wanted to use this opportunity to inform viewers about agriculture. My goals consisted of debunking myths revolving around the agriculture industry. I also wanted to explain the importance of these agricultural processes that range from using fertilizers to using gestation crates.

I started a list of topics that I wanted to cover and individuals that I would interview. I then reached out to them to schedule a date and a location for the interview. The last step was to form questions that I would ask during the interview.

During the actual on camera interview, I not only had to conduct the interview but I also needed to make sure all of the settings were correct on the video camera in terms of lighting and audio. Often I was by myself as both the cameraman and interviewer. After conducting the interview, I needed to continue taping video footage for all of the B-Roll footage that I needed to complete the segment.

The final stage of production consisted of editing. AG am in Kansas uses the Final Cut Pro editing system. Of all the stages of production, editing is what I found the most challenging to learn. My duties were to take all of my video clips and make them into one flawless video segment.

This internship fit my goals in agriculture communication extremely well. Growing up on a cattle operation, I’m very passionate about the agriculture industry. However, in today’s society it is becoming more and more evident that people are having a harder time connecting indirectly with what feeds and clothes their world. This internship gave me an opportunity to explain different livestock and farming practicing to our television viewers.

My experience as an intern for AG am in Kansas helped me to develop professionally. The skills and lessons I learned will continue to be with me in every aspect of my life. I gained communication, technology, people, and video production skills. Each day I could say a learned something new. From this experience, I am confident that after graduation I will incorporate communications into my future career.

I would highly recommend this internship to anyone who loves interacting with people, being in front of a camera and above all loves agriculture. Your skills will be put to the test everyday but the opportunities are endless! To apply for an internship for AG am in Kansas contact Heather Newell at heather@trinitymarketinggroup.net.

The Nutrients for Life Foundation – Emily Velisek

Posted on by chantelles

Everyone at school thought it was awesome that I would be working in D.C. all summer, but for me it was almost what made me not want to take this internship.

This summer I was lucky enough to work for The Nutrients for Life Foundation (NFL). This is a not-for-profit organization that is within The Fertilizer Institute, which is the lobbyist group for fertilizer.

Since I lived in Maryland my whole life, D.C. was not as exciting to me as other students thought when I told them that is where I would be working for my summer.

I guess I did not realize how long it had actually been since I had made the trip down to D.C.. The first few weeks were great because I had the chance to go walk around during my lunch and remember so much from when I was a kid! By the end though I definitely remembered why I did not enjoy D.C.. A lot of it had to do with the commute, but also with how crowed it gets during the summer.

Anyways, once I realized that, I spent more time in the office. I started my internship on May 18th and ended on August 14th. Those 14 weeks flew by and before I knew it, my summer was over.

I could not be more grateful for this internship and lucky that my neighbor helped me get it. I learned a lot about fertilizer and soil, which is a different side of agriculture than what I am used to. I grew up on an Angus cattle farm and showed cattle all my life, so getting to see a different area of agriculture was great for me and I found it very interesting.

I started my internship off by getting asked if I support fertilizer. Not a typical question you get in an interview for a summer internship but I was happy to answer. I am lucky enough to have family that farms about 4,500 acres and have two uncles that work at one of the largest fertilizer companies in Maryland. So my answer was pretty easy: “Yes, I support fertilizer.”

From there I got a project assigned to me for the International Year of Soils, which just happened to be 2015! I started out by doing a lot of research on soil and learning as much as I could. After that I got to work, starting with writing an article for NFL’s Fall 2015 magazine. Once I finished that, I sent it to two of my superiors to edit. While they were editing that I started to work on a blog post and then a blurb for their newsletter. From that I went on to two of the harder parts of my project, making a Facebook cover photo and a video. The cover photo did not seem to take me too long but the video was a challenge. I got the video finished but it did not turn out exactly how I would have liked it.

Some of my other responsibilities were to clean out the database, which may have been the worst thing ever but I know it really helped them. I also did a few things in Excel for people that work at The Fertilizer Institute, which was nice since I knew how to use Excel and could get those done relatively fast.

Monsanto Field Sales Internship- Nathan Lauden

Posted on by chantelles

My dad always told me “You can do anything for a summer. Take advantage of some crazy internships if they let you!” I have taken this advice to heart and this past summer it played out in full!

This past summer I had the opportunity to be a part of the DEKALB/Asgrow team in Western Wisconsin as a Field Sales Intern for Monsanto.  It was filled with challenges, plenty of learning opportunities and a whole host of new and exciting adventures as I went through my 3 months with the company.

I found out about my internship through visiting the all-university career fair that K-State Career and Employment Services offers every fall. It is packed with 250+ employers in Bramlage Coliseum with companies looking for interns to full-time employees, engineering to family studies and everything in between. Monsanto was one of the companies looking for interns at the fair and after speaking to their recruiter I quickly found myself having a great conversation about my background with 4-H and FFA and skills that I had learned through those organizations. This conversation ended up with being invited for an on-campus interview the following day with a different recruiter.

Following the on-campus interview I was told to await a response and it came the last week in October. I was asked to be a part of a group of 40 Field Sales Interns that came from universities spanning the nation, Fresno State to Penn State. The next step was awaiting our location placements and this is where I was honestly almost giddy inside. When asked where I would like to be placed for the summer I chose to go out of my comfort zone and say “why not?” I had asked to be anywhere but Kansas and Missouri and try living in a new part of the country for the summer. I figured when else in college will I have the chance to really test drive a new part of the country so thoroughly and have a unique experience like this? After my options were given I chose to be a part of the DEKALB/Asgrow Wisconsin team and placed with my boss for the summer Kevin Altendorf, who was the District Sales Manager for, generally speaking, the western part of Wisconsin closest to the Twin Cities.

In general I was told that my responsibilities would include some general sales type work in regards to helping the team, but in all honesty I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. When we arrived in St. Louis at Monsanto headquarters for our orientation week, we were given much clarity as to our projects for the summer and what that would look like for the next three months.

We were tasked with three large projects and then expected to handle any other sort of work our on-site bosses had for us to do. These included:

  • Customer Calls- this includes calling on around 40 current, past or potential customers of DeKalb/Asgrow products. This is to get exposure to real growers and what they do on a day-to-day. Since these are our customers getting a chance to meet them and know who they are is very important. I chose to use this experience to come away with why do they choose Monsanto products in general versus using competitors.
  • Climate Corporation and Top Producers- This project consists of my calling on 28 “Top Producers” for Monsanto to discuss and complete a survey with. These are very large growers within my region, as they are high volume customers of Monsanto. Our role is to discuss Climate Corporation, a new company and technology to Monsanto that became available in November.
  • Team Project- this means that I will be setting up a project with my trainer to the benefit of his work and the team. I chose this experience to be a market analysis of three counties within my territory to find out in what ways can we grow business with our customers within that area.

In terms of learning experiences this past summer I learned such an incredible amount. The biggest piece was I found out that I have the capacity to learn about any topic if I choose to work hard. I am not from a production agriculture background and knew nothing compared to many of the interns that I started with about row crops. The best thing for me was that I had an incredible mentor in my boss who was able to meet me where I was at and help me to learn more about the business and agronomy in general. I learned to not be shy about asking questions, because even though I may look back now on some of my questions during the first week and think, wow what was I thinking asking that, there is a huge amount of value to asking the basic questions.

My favorite part of the internship was getting to meet with the actual producers and visiting with them about their operations. This was something that, as an agricultural communications major, I felt I had been lacking in my experiences so far, and never felt like I was able to connect with on-campus assignments due to that. But now I can put a face to my writing projects. I can say to myself, I am writing this for Jim, or what would Adam want general consumers to know about his farm, so I can better advocate for them.

I would highly recommend this internship experience to anyone who has a desire to know more about sales or understand more about agronomy and row crop producers. You are very well taken care and given an incredible network to feel safe asking questions and relying on. As much as this project is meant for them to see you perform they also want to see you grow as not only a sales employee but as a person.

Rodd Whitney is a great contact to know more about the Field Sales Internship program as well as full-time placement within Sales at Monsanto.