Agriculture Students Network with Professionals and Other Students at AFA Animal Institute

7 Students See How WC's Ag Program Stands Out in Sea of Big Schools Much has been said about Wilmington College’s agriculture program — small college, big benefits. The accolades are many: hands-on learning opportunities, personal attention from professors and staff, access to indoor and outdoor learning labs, the ability to develop personal connections that can result in jobs and internships, and the likelihood of graduating with employment in hand. PICTURED: From the left are WC agriculture students: Shaye Creamer, Chase Sears, Hannah Carter, Marissa Williams, Chelsea Woerner, Morgan Fackler, and Hannah Wildman. Seven students learned one more advantage of attending Wilmington College when they were selected to participate the Agriculture Future of America (AFA) Animal Institute this spring in Kansas City. “As we talked with students from all those big ag schools, we realized they didn’t even know each other,” said sophomore Marissa Williams. She traveled to “the center of animal agriculture” with classmates freshman Shaye Creamer, freshman Chase Sears, junior Hannah Carter, junior Chelsea Woerner, junior Morgan Fackler and freshman Hannah Wildman. WC brought one of the largest contingents of students, which were selected based on criteria that included scholarship and leadership. Astounded by the anonymity of their counterparts from big land-grant schools, the WC students mentioned how they all know each other after having been in classes together, on field experiences, working on major projects like the Aggies Livestock Judging Contest and they know one another socially as peers in a mutually supportive academic major on a close-knit campus. “After you talk with 30 kids and everyone’s from big schools, students from Wilmington College stand out,” she added. The AFA Animal Institute offered numerous networking opportunities with corporations in the animal agriculture industry, along with agriculture professionals who let it be known that the students there represent the future of agriculture. “They made it all about how young people are needed in these businesses,” the students told a group of accomplished WC alumni and business professionals known as the President’s Advisory Council, which was on campus in mid-April. “They’re seeing us having the kind of skills they want in employees and the say, ‘We’ll teach you the rest.’ They wanted to talk to us and know if we are interested in their company. I was impressed with how much they’re willing to engage young people, that there’s a place for you to start with their company.” The students toured area livestock farms, heard speakers from the industry and even visited an ag-science laboratory in which they wore special gowns similar to what surgeons might wear in the operating room. “The hands-on experience in Kansas City was really neat,” another mentioned, adding that speaking with students from other schools about their various agriculture programs illustrated the special experience they are receiving at Wilmington College. “I feel we’re getting more opportunities at Wilmington — to get that experience from a small school makes us stand out.” AFA paid all the students’ expenses except their flight, the cost of which was generously supplemented with a gift from a WC alumnus who’s been a longtime advocate and supporter of the agriculture program. On the heels of this spring’s experience, AFA has selected Sears and Creamer, along with Brooke Fornshell and freshman Marisa Matlin to attend its Agronomy Institute in July.