The Bucket List

My how fast four years flies by! It is hard to believe a little more than three years ago, I was packing up all my things, loading them in the car and heading to the happiest valley on earth! Now that I have a little more than six months left here, I’d like to take a moment and reflect on the things I’ve been able to do and the things I still have left to complete, my bucket list, if you will.

Although I have never before written my bucket list down, over the past three years I’ve added to it mentally. With plenty of older family members and friends that came to Penn State before me, I heard quite a few times, “you have to do it before you graduate!”

So here goes, my very own Penn State Bucket List:

ü      Make new friends in my freshman dorm. I came into Penn State with a few older friends I had met through my older siblings and 4-H activities, but I wanted to be sure I put myself out there and made new friends my own age.

ü      Try the food at every commons, especially brunch at West Commons. After all, West is best!

ü      Make the Dean’s List at least four semesters. My parents appreciated this one.

ü      Serve as an Ag Advocate for the College of Agricultural Sciences.

ü      Get Football season tickets and attend as many games as possible.

ü      Have Grilled Stickies at The Diner.

ü      Join at least three clubs on campus. Dairy Science Club, National Agri-Marketing Association and Ag Advocates activities have been some of my fondest memories.

ü      Complete at least one summer internship. Internships with the Center for Dairy Excellence and AgChoice Farm Credit taught me real-world experience in a limited time period.

ü      Climb Mt. Nittany.

ü      Stay up all night studying for an exam or writing a paper. Unfortunately, this happened just last week.

ü      Join a fraternity or sorority. I’m proud to call myself a Sister of Alpha Zeta Fraternity.

ü      Sit in the “S-Zone” at a football game. In my junior year, I sat in the “S-Zone” for the two best games of the season: Iowa State and Ohio State.

ü      Be a leader in a club or organization.

ü      Travel internationally with a class or organization. Over Spring Break in 2009, I traveled to Ireland with the Dairy Science Club. What an amazing experience!

ü      Serve as night crew at the Nittany Lion Fall Classic Sale.

ü      Compete in the Spring Dairy Expo. I went back to my 4-H days in the spring 2010 as I competed in the showmanship and fitting contest, run by the Dairy Science Club.

Now for a few of the things I didn’t quite get to yet:

o        Jump in Whipple Dam. Think I’ll leave this one until late in the spring semester now.

o        Meet Joe Paterno.

o        Go to a Women’s Volleyball Match. Running out of time, but I think I can still make one.

o        Go to the top of the Old Main Tower.

o        Go to a Penn State Basketball game.

o        Walk on the field of Beaver Stadium.

I can’t believe four years could fly by so fast. Looking back, I see that I’ve had a lot of great opportunities to do some pretty cool things as a Penn State student. Now I have a semester and a few weeks to finish off my list, graduate and start the next chapter of my life. If I don’t get to check off every item on the list, I guess I’ll join the ranks as a loyal alumna and finish my list when I come back to visit.

Now I wonder what my next bucket list will look like. Any suggestions?

And the Job Search Begins

A couple weeks ago, the College of Agricultural Sciences hosted an Ag Career Fair for its students. That morning, I put on my best suit, printed out several copies of my resume, did some background research on the companies I wanted to talk to and had my 30-second elevator speech in mind. I was ready and excited to find a few companies that might have a place for me after my graduation in May.

In fact, the career fair hosted more than 60 different companies, organizations and universities. They were set up on the floor of the Bryce Jordan Center from 9:00 a.m – 4 p.m as students from the College of Agricultural Sciences and related fields filtered through to talk to them.

Leaving the career fair that day, though, I was somewhat disheartened. While it was great to talk to employers and make contacts with some of the companies, none of them could promise me that good-paying, great-benefits, high-stress, travel-dependent job I’m searching for. Instead, they took my resume, gave me a business card and asked me to apply online.

But how do I stand out from my peers with only a resume and cover letter, especially when they could have had the same types of experiences I’ve had? I’m starting to understand this whole finding-a-job thing is harder than I thought it would be.

As I start the search for my first “big girl” job, I know I can’t be too picky, but I’ve set the following qualities I’d like to see in my first job:

ü  Agricultural company. I can’t imagine myself working in any other industry but the agricultural industry. Above all else, I could be happy doing just about anything, as long as I was working with agricultural producers.

ü  Communications work. I know I can’t step right into a Director of Communications position, but I want to use and develop my communications skills in any job I take.

ü  Get me out of here! Don’t get me wrong, I love Pennsylvania, but I’m ready for a life-defining step in another part of the country. I’ve realized this may be the only time I can pick up and go anywhere I want to go, so I’m going to grab hold of that opportunity.

ü  Room to grow. I understand I’ll need to start small and work my way up, and I’m ok with that, but I would love to start in a company that I can grow into a higher level position.

So even though I don’t have a detailed job description outlined or a particular company picked out, I think I have enough direction to find a great place to start after my graduation in May.

The Shortest Application with the Greatest Reward

Recently I had the opportunity to attend my fourth College of Agricultural Sciences Scholarship Banquet. Like in the past, this year’s banquet was held at the Penn Stater in a huge banquet hall filled with scholarship donors and recipients.

By my fourth year at the event, I was used to the routine. After a meet-and-greet reception, we sat down at tables with our donors for a delicious meal. I told my donor about my school work, college activities and future plans. My donor usually tells me about his or her family, experiences at Penn State, current career or other hobbies. We sit and listen to each of the deans, a student and a donor. Finally, we part our ways after one more Thank You!

I have always been tremendously grateful for the scholarships I received, but this year it struck me a little harder. Just by chance, I was given a scholarship by the same company I interned with this summer, AgChoice Farm Credit. This company also gave me a scholarship my freshman year. At this year’s scholarship banquet, I sat with my donor, a former-co-worker and friend, and we fell into easy conversation.

One question from that conversation is still stuck in my mind. He asked me, “Sarah, what percentage would you say of your tuition was covered by scholarships?” That night I told him I wasn’t sure, maybe 10 or 15%. But today, I sat down and figured it out.

Over the past four years, scholarships have covered nearly one-third of my tuition costs for my college education! This fact is completely surprised me. These scholarship donors have invested in my education, most of them without knowing anything about me.

In fact, for almost all of the scholarships I received, I didn’t know anything about them either. The College of Agricultural Sciences Scholarship Application is one of the easiest applications I’ve ever filled out. We simply plug in our GPA, major, minor, activities and awards and they match us up to the scholarships we are qualified to receive.

Those scholarships gave me more than tuition help. They gave me a great education, endless opportunities to build leadership skills in clubs and organizations, the possibility to travel abroad, several chances to network with agricultural professionals and a foot in the door in almost any agribusiness.

Now it’s time for me to make sure they spent their money wisely.

OsteoChallenge

Every year, the Penn State Dairy Science Club organizes OsteoChallenge, a 5K race that raises money for the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF). I had the opportunity to chair this race last year, when we raised a record $650 for the foundation to continue osteoporosis research and education.  This year, Chair Becky Wenger set a new record, raising more than $1,000 for NOF!

As I learned last year, an event like this one requires a lot of support from others. Dairy Science Club members planned, promoted and coordinated the event over the past few months. This year, after choosing the theme of "Running till the Cows Come Home," we thought about ways to promote the event.

Chair Becky Wenger checks in runners

We hung up flyers around campus and announced the race in our clubs and classes, and I was able to announce it in my jogging class. The Kinesiology Department emailed the flyer to professors and students. My jogging instructor let those who participated in the race count it for a missed class, so a few of my classmates came out for the race. Dairy Science club students were recruited the day of the event to register runners, stand at the halfway point to hand out water, write down times and make sure the food was ready.

It was amazing to me last year and this year how much planning can go into a three-hour event. Last year we didn’t have as much participation from the club as I would’ve liked, but this year club members stepped it up and helped to run a great event! I enjoy project management, and I'm glad I was able to help Becky with any questions that came up along the way at this year’s event.

Sponsors for the race helped offset the costs of t-shirts and food. This year, Allied Milk Producers Cooperative, Inc., Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association, Dairy Marketing Services, Galliker’s Dairy, Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association, Wegman’s Food Market and Giant Foods all made substantial contributions for a successful OsteoChallenge. Most of the sponsors have been contributing to OsteoChallenge for several years. They are often Penn State grads that enjoy giving back to the Dairy Science Club.

Emma Green, Krystal Wasson and Crystal Hitz

We also welcomed Penn State Dairy Princess Emma Green, Pennsylvania Dairy Princess Krystal Wasson, and Pennsylvania Alternate Dairy Princess Crystal Hitz to the event. These three young ladies promoted three servings of dairy a day, along with regular exercise, to help prevent osteoporosis. They passed out promotional items and talked to the runners before and after the race.

Runners at the Start Line

Forty-eight runners came out on Saturday to support the NOF. Prizes were awarded to the top winners in each age division, and healthy snacks and drinks were available for everyone. Congratulations to Becky Wenger on a great job as chair of this year’s OsteoChallenge Race!

All of the runners and Dairy Science Club members