Participants in the NTIEC Agriculture Leadership Career Experience Summer Program included, (front, from left) Abbey Keeney – Northeast Bradford, Dr. Maral – North Winds Veterinary Services, Alexis Sebring – Montrose, Holly Havartine – Mountain View, (back) Madison Wagner – Tunkhannock, Charlotte Quick – Elm Tree Academy, Caden Johnson – Montrose, Josh Keeney – Northeast Bradford, Juliann Johnson – Montrose, Noah Castiglione – Montrose, and Brady McHugh – Abington Heights.
Edited from Submitted Materials
The Northern Tier Industry and Education Consortium (NTIEC) has hosted a series of career summer experience programs this summer. The first of them delved into the many modern facets of agriculture, and drew 12 students from five NEPA schools. The week-long experience was packed full of field trips and leadership workshops to not only give the students an immersive experience in the work lives of those in agriculture, but to build the communication and leadership skills necessary to succeed in any career.
The students started out the week by meeting the owners of Brown Hill Farms, representatives from the PA Farm Bureau and the Wyoming County 4-H. The 4-H walked the group through leadership and communication ice breakers and workshops.
On Tuesday, the group jumped right into action with Dr. Maral of North Winds Veterinary Services. Dr. Maral spoke to the students about careers in veterinary medicine and specializing in large animal healthcare. The students then traveled to Milnes Breeding Facility in Tunkhannock where they were able to learn about horse breeding, monitoring health, ultrasound technology, and even learned about acupuncture and chiropractic treatments on large animals. They also had some one-on-one time with a baby mule named Fireball.
On Wednesday, the students armored up in bee keeper suites and befriended the buzzing bees at Henningstead Holstein Organic Farm, where they were able to bottle and sample organic honey, among the many other sweet treats on the Henninsgtead farm. The students spent the rest of the day at Henningstead, where they learned all the ins-and-outs of animal care, farm equipment care, and what it means to be an organic farm.
The students started out their day on Thursday at Ross Feed Mill in Hop Bottom, where they learned how various blends of animal feed are made, and finished their day at Mud Pond Farm in Dalton, where they learned about one of the final steps in animal care: meat processing.
To wrap up their eventful week, the students spent Friday at Brown Hill Farms learning from co-owner Scott Brown about drone use on large farms, agritourism, hypertufa pot making, and ended the week on the cute note of bottle feeding a baby goat named Orphan Annie.
The students noted in their reflections of the experience that their favorite parts were the personal connections made with the farm owners and guest speakers, the hand-on activities, and learning about niche careers and jobs in agriculture, like chiropractic treatments for animals, drone flying, and agritourism.
In a reflection of the camp, one student also related, “This program made an impact on me by really opening my eyes to all of the jobs that are available in the (agriculture) industry. I didn’t realize how many jobs it took to run a farm.”
It is NTIEC’s goal to prepare the future generation for their careers and is extremely happy that students were able to take away valuable skills and knowledge from the Agriculture & Leadership Career Experience Summer program. To learn more about NTIEC’s programs, interested readers can log on to https://www.ntiec.com/, call 570-278-5038, or email dtierney@ntiec.com.