Hello,

It’s been a great fall semester so far! We are just a little over halfway through the semester and there has been several exciting events in the college of agriculture. I kicked off the semester by attending the unveiling of the Indiana Corn and Soybean Innovation center located at the Purdue Agronomy Center for Research and Education. This center will provide the most advanced research in automated field phenotyping and is the only one of its kind in North America. This also mean great opportunities available for students interested in agronomy and other areas of plants science. I also had the opportunity to attend an event titled “Strategic Doing” hosted by the Ag Council and Sponsored by Syngenta. This event was a great opportunity to meet people from all the different clubs and departments in the college of agriculture. The event was essentially a leadership development program designed to assist people in their efforts to collaborate on ideas as a team and turn them into accomplished projects. Attending programs such as the unveiling of the Indiana Corn and Soybean Innovation Center and the Strategic Doing Event are 2 of many events that students in the agronomy department might have the opportunity to attend and be involved in. It’s been a good semester so far, and I look forward to graduation in December!

If anyone has any questions about the Agronomy Department or would like a tour our department please feel free to email me at Knotts1@purdue.edu

Best Regard,

Calvin D. Knotts     

Mid Semester Dash

Hello everybody!

Whoa!  It seems like last week I was writing my first blog of the semester and now here I am doing it again.  I guess time flies when you are having fun!  Second rounds of exams are finishing up and round three starts next week, boy where did time go.  Like many of my fellow boilermakers and ambassadors I make my way home most weekends to help on the family farm and to deer hunt.  Balancing everything can be difficult but it is always worth it when the combine is put away, a couple tags are filled, and my grades turn out better than expected (most of the time).  This week is even busier as I will be leaving Friday for Phoenix, Arizona as we head to SASES for contests and expanding our agronomy knowledge.  Here we will be able to put our skills to the test; public speaking, crops judging, visual presentations, quiz bowl, and so much more.  We will also be able to network with employers, other universities, and build our relationships with current students.  

I hope everyone had a successful career fair and your interviews went well.  Some will receive great news and some will receive bad news.  I want to encourage everyone to be thankful for the offers that you receive and to look into other opportunities if you are unable to lock in an internship that you want.  Purdue Agronomy (research laboratories) hires many students to assist with sample collection and processing. There is also a bulletin by the north stairwell in Lilly that has current job postings as well.  Opportunities are out there so do not be afraid to keep looking and you will find the perfect position!  

Feel free to contact me anytime!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Nick Thompson

thomp381@purdue.edu

Mid Semester Update!

Hello All,

We are a little over half way through the semester! In this part of the semester it seems like every couple weeks it is time to take another exam. The weeks go by so fast that you have to stay on top of everything going on. This week I am getting ready to leave for the Students of Agronomy, Soils, and Environmental Sciences (SASES) conference in Phoenix, Arizona with some fellow Agronomy Club members. In Arizona we will be competing in various competitions such as quiz bowl, visual presentation, crops judging, and others. We will also have the opportunity to tour some of the local agricultural businesses located in Arizona and network with other Agronomy students from all over the country. 

This fall I have also had the opportunity to help a local farmer during harvest. Not coming from a traditional farm background, I have greatly enjoyed driving the grain cart and helping with corn and soybean harvest. Pictured is a sunset over the field. 

Of the many things that this semester has kept me busy with, planning my study abroad trip has been on of my favorites. I will be studying abroad for the spring semester in New Zealand! I will be staying at Massey University taking classes and traveling the country from February until June. I am excited to do a lot of road tripping and hiking the beautiful countryside of New Zealand while making many new friends along the way. Purdue offers so many great options to study abroad during your college years. They also offer a lot of financial support and all the classes that you take abroad will transfer back to Purdue so you will not get behind to graduate. Stay tuned for updates on my adventure!

Feel free to contact me with questions: chupp1@purdue.edu

God Bless, 

Andrew Chupp 

Harvest is here!

Hello,

Every year around harvest its always a little tougher being down here at Purdue when I'd rather be back home helping.  But being only approximately two hours from home, allows me to head back most weekends in order to help out a few days a week.  This usually means I can't go to many football games or other events on the weekends in the fall but its all well worth it once you've finished harvesting that last field.
Spending so much time away from school can really make it tough keeping up with all the school work I receive here at Purdue.  This forces me to really manage my time in order to get everything finished and turned in on time.  I am still also able to be very involved in various clubs such as Agronomy Club even when my time spent on campus in the fall is short.

Mid semester update!

Hey everyone, 

I hope you are all staying afloat as midterm exams are still steadily coming in and projects are due. I know things can get a little hectic, but I know you all will get through it easily. 

This semester has gone by pretty quickly, and I hope you all are doing as well or better than I am. This semester I have been heading home the majority of the weekends, but have made it to a couple of football games, while also working and hanging out with family. At work I have been driving around soil sampling, and driving some small tender trucks. 

Just last week I had a few interviews for an internship with some companies from the Purdue Ag career fair, and I look forward to having a few more interviews while also narrowing down the job search. After going through a few interviews you really start to improve on your skills and improve on the questions you ask and the answers you give for future years. 

If you have any questions please feel free to email me, or send Jane or Sherry a request for the agronomy ambassador calendar.  Also feel free to cheer for us as we look forward to winning the Ag Olympics for the third straight year!

Fall Break!!

Hey everyone,

Happy fall break! I hope everyone is having a relaxing long weekend after the last busy 7 weeks of classes and the career fair because I know I am. For those that don’t know me, my name is Julia Fibbe and I am a sophomore studying Agronomy: Crop and Soil Management here at Purdue. 

The beginning of this year has flown by I can’t believe we are approaching our second set of exams in the next couple of weeks. It is a stressful time again but there are always things to look forward to that aren’t related to class like clubs and hanging with friends. I recently joined a sorority this year and have had a blast getting to know even more people on campus. With that being said I am learning a lot about time management and finding ways to balance everything in my crazy college career. I have also learned to appreciate my later classes which allow me to get a few extra hours of sleep every night.

This past week I also had the opportunity to participate in Purdue's Agriculture career fair for the second time and talk to many different companies and even get an interview with a few of them. Comparing my experience at the fair this year to last year I saw a huge difference in my confidence and knowledge which is due to the close and supportive department of agronomy.

I hope everyone is able to rest this weekend and enjoy the nice weather because I don't think it will be lasting much longer. As always feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns!

Julia Fibbe 

Adulting Is Coming!

Hello Everyone,

Long time, no blog! I had an amazing summer and I’m still in shock that I’m a senior in college now.  This is the semester I have to find a job, prepare for graduation and make my final memories as a student here at Purdue. This summer I had an internship with DuPont Pioneer as an Agronomy Sales Intern covering Northeast Indiana. I had an absolute blast and learned so much about the industry and myself in terms of my career path. I attended multiple agronomy meeting to enhance my agronomic knowledge, rode around with account managers to better understand sales and I also completed a sales based project where I interviewed farmers who are primarily prospect customers to better understand the connection between product performance, service, and buying patterns. I wrapped up my summer presenting my project in Johnston, Iowa, where I also got the opportunity to interview for a full time position with Pioneer in their Emerging Leader Program. After the interview and a few weeks of being extremely impatient, I finally got the call and an offer from Pioneer!

The answer is YES! As of last week I’ve officially accepted a position in the Emerging Leaders Program as a production agronomist! I will spend my two years in the program at Pioneer’s seed corn production plant in Constantine, Michigan. This plant is also the largest seed corn production site in

North America! The Emerging Leader Program opens doors to learn and understand multiple levels and divisions in Pioneer to help prepare for a leadership position in the company down the way. Ultimately I’d like to be an account manager and lead a team of sales reps to help meet the company and the farmers needs. While it’s bittersweet to think my time here at Purdue is limited, I’m excited to enter into this new chapter in my life that I feel Purdue has prepared me for so well.

Well everyone, that’s about everything I have for now. It’s mid-semester so exams and projects are all underway, but it’s finally time for my favorite season. Fall, harvest, Halloween, my birthday, Thanksgiving… It’s like they combined all the best things of the year into 2 months! Happy Fall Y’all!

Until next time,

Kerri Swingley

Senior Year...Finally!

As summer quickly fades into fall, I can't help but think about this being my last fall here on campus. Senior year is supposed to be awesome right? And it is, but the real world feels closer and closer everyday and with that I get a little more worried about finding a job and moving away and starting a life that isn't filled with late night studying and wearing a backpack everywhere I go. Fortunately, this semester I am only taking 14 credit hours so I have extra time to do that extra worrying and spend time with friends. Everyday passes so quickly that it's hard to get everything done and easy to fill my days.


I had an internship with AgriGold this summer and loved every second of it. I had great bosses and met so many interesting farmers. This year AgriGold began selling soybeans for the first time and I got to help with the launch. It was neat to go out to growers and talk about new opportunities for them. I only hope that I find a job that I enjoy as much as I did my internship.




I also had the fun experience of getting my wisdom teeth out. That's really all that I have to say about that.








Finally the biggest event of the summer was my sister getting married. She got married at the same church as my parents two days before their 30th wedding anniversary. She was the most beautiful bride and we all had so much fun with family and friends.

That's about all of the excitement that is currently in my life, so until next time:
Stay Classy Internet,

Shelby Sigman