It’s another year of life in the books. I turn twenty this week. Wow—two whole decades old! In all of my many years of life, I believe college is where I have flourished. I’m a sophomore this year and it will be one year since I’ve been a member of Ag Ambassadors. This is my most favorite organization that I’m a part of. It is exactly what I want to do.
I chose my major, Ag Communications, because I enjoy talking, promoting and advertising, plus I love agriculture. Put my two passions together and what do you get? The right major for me. Ag Ambassadors, puts my studies into action. I like the saying “Promote what you love, instead of bashing what you hate.” Ag Ambassadors is an ambassadorship for Wyoming, The University of Wyoming, The College of Ag and Natural Resources, and Agriculture. I fell in love with all these things so following through with promotion comes easy. The College of Ag and Natural Resources is home to areas of study as well as other departments. It houses UW extension which is dear to my heart because 4-H played such a pivotal role in my youth. It also is home to the rodeo team, although I do not compete I cherish the world of rodeo.
I love my major. It combines my passions into a neat little package of studies. Classes like interpersonal communications, human communications and business and professional communications that touch on psychology, sociology and journalism cater to my interests those areas. Classes in the within the college of Ag like Equine Nutrition and Physiology, Ag Economics, Fitting and Showing fulfill my interests in those areas. I also get to meet my class requirements by taking classes in Family and Consumer Sciences like Principles of Human Nutrition, Beginning Clothing Construction and Global Textiles to keep the course load interesting. The College of Ag has just about everything I love in it. I almost went to school for pre-vet so the animals science department is important to me. I value being an informed citizen and a smart business-woman and the Ag Economics department informs me. I grew up around the headwaters of the Colorado River and water rights are a big issue so Reclamation, Rangeland Management and Ag Law are applicable classes. I participated in Sewing 4-H when I was younger and it is really refreshing to delve into the past by taking textile classes. Nutrition is related to Agriculture because ultimately the food comes from farms and ranches. It is important producers and consumers have an understanding relationship.
This semester I was voted as the Chairperson of the group. I help lead meetings and send out e-mails. It means a lot that my peers recognize my leadership skills. The activities that I have participated in include. Commencement, Fall Advisory Board Meeting, “What I wish my parents had known” panel, High School Tour question panel, Albany County Ag Appreciation Dinner, Good Luck cookies for midterms, Spring Discovery Days, Spring Advisory Board Meeting, View Book Photo shoot and Monday I’m helping serve the Earth Day Ag BBQ put on by WCCA and attending the Friends of Wildlife Dinner. So many valuable experiences that I am grateful for.
One may ask why is The Family and Consumer Sciences department housed in the College of Ag? The real question is where do the items for those classes come from? The textile classes, are knitted into the ag world because cotton and wool—two of the main materials are ag products. Nutrition is all about food—where does food come from? The world of Ag. I hope that helps to answer that question.
There is only three more weeks of school. I’m looking forward to the summer, well duh, because it’s summer but especially this summer because I will be traveling to Finland. I was accepted to the study abroad exchange program. I will be taking a class each week for four weeks at the University of Jyväskylä, in Jyväskylä, Finland. The first week I’m enrolled in Basic Finnish Language and Culture, then Emotions in Sport Performance, the third week is Social Networks and Interpersonal Relationships in a Multicultural World and I will finish out studying the Basics of Argumentation and Rhetoric. I will be in Finland for a month, part of May and June. Finland has one of the highest ranked education systems and has a 100% literacy rate. I’m looking forward to experience that first hand and hopefully can bring back information and techniques to apply here.
This fall I became interested in studying abroad, so I went to the website and poked around. This was my thought process: summer programs—more affordable and less commitment, if it’s for the summer it should be in English, a program somewhat related to my degree. Those filters narrowed it down to the program A Summer in Human Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä.
Another reason to love the College of Ag is the support for studying abroad. Through the Beyond the Classroom Grant I have financial support to get across the ocean. I feel that they are very supportive of giving their students help to experience other learning environments to get a world presence for UW and for the students to bring back a valuable perspective. I have more paperwork and preparations to do so I’ll leave you to attend to them. Have a delightful day, wonderful week and spectacular summer. You can follow me on Twitter to keep up with my adventures @McCallLinke. Follow my blog about my
trip to Finland at: http://mccallinfinland.blogspot.com/.