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"After I switched my major to Agronomy at ISU I felt like I had finally found something that fit."
"I thank the professors and classmates I had in the college of Agriculture for the education that has given me confidence in the workplace."
I grew up in a small farming community in Morris, MN. In 1998 I moved to Ames, Iowa were I attended Ames
High School. In the fall of 2001 I started my first semester at Iowa State as a botany major. After one semester,
I switched my major to Agronomy and I felt like I had finally found something that fit. When I graduated from
Iowa State I was hired by Syngenta Seeds in Kauai, Hawaii. I am currently working as a research associate in
trait integration and development.
When I started working at Syngenta my co-workers would approach me with the question, "You went to Iowa State,
right?" when I answer, "Yes." they proceed by asking their agronomic question with confidence in my answer.
I thank the professors and classmates I had in the college of Agriculture for the education that has given me
confidence in the workplace. I also participated in travel courses while I was at Iowa State. I spent two weeks
in Panama and one month in Ukraine. When I interviewed for a job in Hawaii, one of the questions they asked me
was, "How comfortable are you with traveling and working in a different culture?" Smiles and head nods of
agreement filled the room as I shared stories about my international travel experience.
The most valuable lesson I learned from Iowa State was to learn from everything I do, whether that meant
learning to play as a team during intramural volleyball or learning to come back from mistakes in organic
chemistry. Becoming educated means more than understanding textbooks, it means taking all the experiences
you have had and realizing they too are life lessons that teach you the skills you will need to be successful.
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