First Introduction/Summer Update

Hello everyone!

My name is Kelley Roberts and I am going to be going into my sophomore year this fall at Purdue. I am majoring in Agronomy with a concentration in Crop and Soil Management. I am also a new Agronomy Ambassador and am very excited and proud to be one of the great faces of the Agronomy Department and look forward to all the wonderful opportunities that comes along with this position! I am also involved in the Agronomy Club which I enjoy so much! I have already made some great memories and have had some wonderful experiences and opportunities. At Purdue I am also involved in Purdue Best Buddies and Collegiate Farm Bureau. I was able to travel to Costa Rica over Spring Break this past year where we learned about their environmental sustainability and their agriculture. We went on several visits to places such as a banana farm, coffee farm, pineapple farm, and was also able to go whitewater rafting, hike in a rainforest, and a lot more. This was great for me since I would like to focus on international agriculture. So, I highly recommend studying abroad at least once! I am from a small town just 35-40 minutes north of Purdue's campus called Goodland, IN. This summer I have held an internship with Co-Alliance and have worked as a field scout for the Goodland, Reynolds, and Idaville areas. As I am wrapping up the last few days of my internship, I can't help but to think how beneficial it has been to be able to scout fields for Co-Alliance. I have a deeper understanding of different weeds, insects, diseases, and other agronomic issues and concerns, that I will definitely be able to use in the future. Being a field scout has helped me to build up my agriculture foundation and has taught me so many important things in just one summer and because of that, I will be forever grateful that I had that opportunity as a freshman! Also this summer, I was able to attend the Agriculture Future of America's Crop Science Institute in North Carolina. There I was able to network with industry leaders and other students in the crop science field. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet with those people as well as to see how the different crops in North Carolina are produced. I have been working all summer pretty much but in my free time, I have been able to go swimming, attend a few concerts, and just relax! Sorry this is a bit lengthy but I thought that I would share a bit about me! Again, I am definitely looking forward to serving the Agronomy Department and getting more involved with the department itself. Have a great rest of your summer and hopefully the semester starts out wonderfully for everyone! Boiler up!

-Kelley Roberts

If you have any questions about anything, feel free to contact me @ rober377@purdue.edu