The Last Time Around

Senior Year holds several  "last time" events, such as: my first last day of school on campus, my last time as a student at UKAg Round Up, my last semester as a CAFE Ambassador, my last semester to pull all- nighters with friends in the Ag North Lobby studying, and my last time going to CSF to get pancakes at midnight to take a break from studying for finals. Thinking about all of these things that I will do for the last time this semester makes me a little emotional. It is so hard to believe that my time here at UK as a student and ambassador in the College of Agriculture, Food and the Environment  is coming to a close in a few short months.

            The thought of senior year brings up all these "last time" events, but because of a bold step that myself and 26 other girls took last year I also had a "first time" experience this semester which I will always be grateful for. The Beta Omicron chapter of Sigma Alpha Professional Sorority for Women in Agriculture was activated March 23rd, 2013. I was blessed enough to be a charter member with 26 other brave and wonderful girls.

            Last week we held our "first" rush to find the alpha class membership candidates to help grow our organization. The numerous bonds that were created and strengthened last week is a true testament to what this organization has done for me in the few months that I have been a member. I'm blessed that I had an amazing leader ask me to be a part of this group and I will continue to talk to girls about the wonderful things personally and professionally that this organization will do for women in agriculture.

            My first and last time events will continue throughout these next few months and they will be nothing short of amazing, just like my career here in the College of Agriculture, Food, and the Environment. I am thankful for all of the "first" and "last time" events that this College and University have been a part of because it has played a huge role in the forming of the woman I have become. 

Gabrielle is a senior from Gamaliel, Kentucky.  She is majoring in Career & Technical Education and will student teach in the spring.

Finding my home in the College of Ag, Food and Environment

       On the close of the first week of the brand new academic year, I find it fitting to share with you my personal experience thus far with UK and the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.  

Choosing to attend the University of Kentucky was automatic for me.  My older brother and sister both went to school here,and consequently I grew up visiting them in Lexington and hearing about their many experiences.  When it was my turn, I was so excited to finally come to UK, but a part of me was apprehensive.  I knew that UK was a large university with hundreds of opportunities, which intimidated me as an incoming freshman coming from a small town and a high school where everyone knew my name.  

I quickly learned in my first week of school as a freshman about the family atmosphere of UK Ag.  Walking into my introductory biotechnology class, I was astonished to see that only about 40 other freshman students were in my major.  I loved that I was able to know almost every student by name by the end of the year.  Not to mention, some of my fellow classmates are now my closest friends.  The apprehension I had once felt faded away in no time.    

As I continued my journey as a UK Ag student, I began to appreciate all of the amazing attributes of the college.  My advisor here in the college, Dr. Bruce Webb, has made a huge impact on my academic experience.  Not only does he help me schedule my courses, but he also informs me of opportunities that he thinks would interest me.  He knows me personally and my goals for the future so he is able to be so much more thanjust a class scheduler.  Not to mention, he ended up being my genetics professor in the ABT program! Other faculty members in the college have gone out of their way to get to know my fellow classmates and me.  In fact, our Associate Dean for Instruction, Dr. Larry Grabau, even attended our Ambassador retreat at Red River Gorge this past weekend.  This is the kind of family environment that has been cultivated in our college since its very beginning.  

Enrolling in the Agricultural Biotechnology program here at UK Ag was the best academic decision I have ever made.  I have most definitely found my home within the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.  I am so very thankful and proud to be a member of this wonderful family.

Toria is a junior Agricultural Biotechnology major from Hebron, KY.

How I Spent My Summer

View of mountain ranges via the farm

I can still hear the Congo music, see the Ngöbe Buglé Indians walking past the house I lived in, feel the warmth of the Santa Clara people acting as a second family to me, and of course not to mention the beautiful mountain landscape covered with farms.

For 3 months I lived in a very small agriculturally centered town called Santa Clara in Panama (the country) which resides in Central America.  I lived and worked on a mountain range 1200 meters above sea level on an Arabica coffee farm.  Arabica coffee is grown on mountain ranges above sea level typically in a misty-type climate in tropical areas around the world.  But that’s crazy, I am an Ag Econ major; where is the math and statistics component of this job?  No, just labor on the coffee farm. 

I am interested in coffee so I figured if you want to get into a business it is vital to know the foundation of the business (i.e. coffee farming).  So first, I contacted Dr. Roger Brown in the Ag Econ program at UK about his new class which focuses on Ag-based tourism and had a required component to go to Panama in Central America for one week for a hands-on field work in March (Oh darn, a required trip to Panama!).  I told him I am interested in getting into the coffee business, and I asked if there would be any opportunities to find a job on a coffee farm via this new class).  Dr. Brown connected me to Mr. Alex Thor, who would also be our tour guide in Panama.  I signed up for the class and got into contact with Mr. Thor immediately.  Mr. Thor himself didn’t know a lot about the farming part of coffee so he connected me with Mr. Nico Armstrong who has been living in Panama for 7 years and started off working in the Peace Corps.  Mr. Armstrong then knew a family (the Lezcano’s) that would be willing to take me in to get experience working on a coffee farm.  And that is how I got the job.

Life on the farm was simple.  I wake up and drink coffee and eat at the farmer’s house down the road.  After that we may spend some time sharpening the machetes before we start working.  Leito Lezcano (the main farmer) owns an organic farm so most of the work is done by machetes; no machinery!  Plus, you won’t ever see a tractor on a mountain range, right?  Everyone in Santa Clara shares the scars they have via a machete, including me now.  Even with experience you can easily cut yourself; and oh boy does it make you a stronger person.  

Jesse on the coffee farm after chopping Plantain down to sell

As far as work on the farm; I pruned coffee and plantain trees, helped chop weak plantain trees to the root and re-plant them in different areas, planted new coffee trees, mixed fertilizer in the barn, etc.  Very labor intensive work, given the fact that you are walking up and down a mountain range (i.e. the farm) possibly with a 100 lb. bag of fertilizer on your back. I was in shape!  It was back-breaking but peaceful working on the farm and I gained an even greater appreciation for the hard work and passion farmers put into their farm.

As far as life in Panama, the pace was slow and people value family time very highly.  Yes, you have to work for a living, but don’t work too hard because then you can’t spend as much time with your family; this is how they think.  North Americans work really hard during the week and once they get to the weekend they are too tired to even enjoy it.  When I returned to the U.S. I was like “Wow, why are people eating so fast and in a hurry to get to places?”  I was experiencing reverse culture shock.  Overall, I miss Panama dearly…

Jesse M. is an agricultural economics student at the University of Kentucky.  He is from Louisville, Kentucky.

Down on the farm...UK Style

Many students go through college wondering how they are going to pay for their books or everyday expenses.  The College of Agriculture here at the University of Kentucky has plenty of opportunities for students to earn money through work-study.  I was hired on at the University’s Oran Little Research Farm in Woodford County at the beef research center when I was a sophomore.  I didn’t know it at the time but it was the beginning of many opportunities that I never knew I would have.

            Working at the Beef Unit at the farm in   Work days start at 6:30am (if it works with your schedule) and normally end around 3:30 pm. When I first started I thought working so early was terrible because I wasn’t used to getting up quite that early.  Once I got in the routine of getting to work at that time making any 8:00am class was easy, and I feel like I get so much more accomplished during the day when I get up early.   For those who can’t make it to work this early they are very good about working around school schedules because they know that academics come first.

Versailles for three years has really changed my life.

Not only has it impacted my life in this fashion, but also working at the beef unit has taught me a whole lot more than I could have ever learned in a classroom.  I grew up on our family farm and thought I knew the ins and outs about cattle, but I was wrong.  Working at the university’s farm has helped educate me about different feed rations, genetics, cross-breeding, reproduction, etc. and has given me the chance to work first hand with the animal research professors.  I have been able to take things that I learn at work home and practice them on my own farm.

One thing that most college students find hard is being organized and meeting deadlines.  Having to prioritize my working schedule with my school schedule and all the other extra curricular activities I am involved in has helped me prepare for the real world after graduation.  Being responsible and having time management skills is two key components when being successful in a career and I feel like my experience working through college farm has helped me develop these two skills.  One other thing that my administrators really push is for me to take initiative and do things before I’m told to, and I know this will help me be successful once I enter my career field.

Working at the beef unit at the Woodford County farm has introduced so many new opportunities to me that I never would have had otherwise.  I have met great people who have become some of my best friends, made several good contacts for future references, I’ve also learned an incredible amount about beef cattle, grown as an adult, and best of all I got paid to do all of this.  As a student entering the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture I would strongly recommend trying to find employment at one of the research farms.  There are a variety of different positions such as mine working at the beef cattle unit to working with dairy cattle and even poultry, and of course being in Kentucky we cannot forget about the horses. 

If your thinking about coming to UK and don’t want to leave the farm, don’t be worried there are plenty of opportunities to get back to the farm and be involved with the university at the same time.  Hopefully you won’t let the thought of moving away from home scare you because there are tremendous opportunities and people here at the University of Kentucky.

Cody is a senior graduating with a double major in Agricultural Economics and Community & Leadership Development.  

Where has the time gone?

As many other students are experiencing right now, this is my last semester as an undergraduate student!  I have been at the University of Kentucky for four years now, and I have loved every minute of it.  I have made many wonderful, lifelong friends and had experiences that I’ll never forget.  While being in college I had the experience to travel to Florida with the College of Agriculture Ambassadors for a leadership summit, I traveled to Wisconsin and Illinois with my Sustainable Agriculture capstone class, and with the Women’s Choir I sang in England, Wales and Ireland.  

Marissa in Ireland with UK Women's Choir.

As this semester is already half way over, I keep thinking that all of my fellow graduating seniors each have to make a choice about what they are going to do after commencement on May 5.  Some, like me, are going to graduate school.  Some may go straight into the work force and already have jobs lined up.  And some have no idea what they want to do.  Whatever we all decide to do, we know that we have had the best time and met the best people.

I have decided to go to the University of Kentucky for graduate school to pursue a master’s degree in Human Nutrition.  I am very excited about this opportunity and to learn about how what we eat affects our health.  I would love to pair my undergraduate degree of Sustainable Agriculture with a nutrition degree so that I can help educate people not only on how their food is grown but how their food can affect different aspects of their bodies.  I decided to go to graduate school to pursue this dream, as well as to give myself more opportunities in the job field.  The two degrees that I will have will not only complement each other, but diversify my areas of knowledge.

Students who are just starting out their college experience are thinking that they have forever in college to take advantage of opportunities and figure out what they are going to do.  My advice is that you don’t have forever.  These four years go faster than you can even imagine, so you need to start now!  

- Marissa is a senior from Morrow, Ohio.  She is graduating in May with a individualized bachelors of science curriculum in Sustainable Agriculture.