Presentation for Ag Day Helps to Celebrate AZ Alumni

509 ag day presentation may 2013By Sister Taylor Young, photo by Sister Meagan Slates
Penn State’s Ag Day, where the College of Agricultural Sciences invite the campus to learn more about agriculture, was held April 3. Taylor Young prepared the following information to feature the alumni of Alpha Zeta, showcasing where a career in agriculture can take college graduates.

Orry Pratt
Graduated with an Animal Sciences degree
Orry is currently enrolled as a graduate student at Texas A&M University in Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications with a curriculum focus in International Agricultural Development.

As a unique part of his master’s degree, Orry has been invited to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay for two years starting in September under the Peace Corps Master’s International program. He will serve as an “Agricultural Extensionist” working with rural farmers in soil conservation, crop diversification, beekeeping and animal husbandry. Peace Corps Volunteers in Paraguay educate farmers about crop diversification techniques as a method of replenishing nutrients back into the soil and to hopefully increase crop production yields. After he finishes his master’s requirements, Orry aspires to continue in the International Agricultural Development field by working for one of the United Nations organizations, particularly the Food and Agriculture Organization or the World Food Programme.

 

Courtney Smith
Graduated in 2012 with an Animal Sciences degree and a minor in Agribusiness Management
Courtney is currently a Technical Advisor for Tyson Foods, Inc. located in New Holland, Pa. She oversees 29 farms with a total of 71 broiler houses, averaging about 26,000 birds per house. She is responsible for working with the growers to produce healthy, wholesome birds for the Tyson plant.

Dr. Gregory Roth
Graduated in 1979 with a BS degree in Agronomy
Greg is a faculty member in the Department of Plant Science at Penn State where he conducts applied research on grain crops and develops educational programs relating to grain crop management. He works with a team of colleagues and staff members who conduct experiments on a variety of current issues. Some ongoing projects include evaluating new drought resistant and BMR genetics and management for corn for silage, evaluating strategies for high yield soybean production, understanding tactics for improving wheat yields with fungicides, development of hulless barley as an alternative crop and evaluation of dwarf BMR sorghums as a forage crop. He also conducts extensive extension educational programs and participates in many industry and extension programs in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. He writes columns for farming newspapers, ag magazines and the online newsletter called Field Crop News. He even started experimenting with Twitter and you can follow him at @gregroth1. He devotes a fair amount of time to special training sessions for the agribusiness sector, such as the popular Crop Diagnostic Clinic, Field Crop Scout School, the Penn State Dairy Nutrition Conference and the Keystone Crops Conference. He also works with a number of organizations in the state to help advance the discipline of crop management. His extension assignments have also taken him overseas where he has worked in Germany, Serbia and Ukraine on various projects.

Thomas Edwards
Graduated in 2012 with an Animal Science Degree and Poultry and Avian Sciences Minor
Thomas is currently employed by the number 1 egg producer in the United States, Cal-Maine Foods Inc. He is a production supervisor at their newest cage-free layer facility in Bremen, Kentucky. He oversees approximately 25 employees in the day-to-day operations of an egg farm. This starts with the raising pullets, which are immature hens, and goes all the way through to the removal of spent hens. The company has two pullet barns with the capacity of 50,000 birds per barn. His job requires him to administer all vaccinations to the growing pullets to protect them from diseases. He also controls the lighting and feeding schedules to promote growth and maturity amongst the pullets and egg production in the hens. He also oversees some basic mechanical maintenance as well as implement and monitor programs so that they are in compliance with USDA, United Egg Producers and American Humane Society standards.

Nate Oleniacz
Graduated in 2012 with an Animal Sciences degree
At Arethusa, Nate is currently overseeing herd health for the herd, working with DairyComp programs and having vet checks with the vet once a week. He also milks morning and night and is on call during the nights 3-4 days a week for emergency calls in the barn. Those are normally for sick cows that are calving.

Philip Haussener
Graduated in 2012 with an Agricultural and Extension Education degree
Manheim Central is a three-teacher program. The school offers more than 20 different classes and is on a block schedule. Philip teaches an Intro to Ag class with 23 students, Environmental Stewardship class with 16 students and a required freshman LEGS (Life Essential Group of Studies) course that changes every 22 days. The LEGS course covers Natural Resources, Animal Agriculture, Wildlife Management and a “Today’s Agriculture” unit. The Manheim FFA Chapter has about 80 students. Philip was recently presented with an honorary degree from the chapter.

Amy Yeiser
Graduated in 2012 with an Animal Sciences degree and Agribusiness Management minor
As a Developmental Sales Rep with Syngenta, Amy is going through initial training to then be successful in her own sales territory. She is riding with different sales reps to see what their day-to-day activities include, along with going through initial sales training courses to learn successful sales techniques. Throughout the training period, she is learning about all of the different seed and crop protection products and about different placement opportunities within a certain geographical area. As she becomes more comfortable with products, she has had the opportunity to go on sales calls on her own to have some one-on-one customer interaction. Once her training period is over, she will be placed into a territory of her own where she will have her own customer base and work with the Syngenta team in her district, and nationwide, to bring the best possible product to the customer.

Shawn Beam
Graduated in 2011 with a Business Marketing degree
While he did not graduate with an ag degree, Shawn’s background growing up on a large family farm prepared him for a job with Syngenta an agri-business company.

Kristin Klohonatz
Graduated in 2012 with Bachelors of Science in Animal Sciences and a minor in Equine Science
Upon graduation, Kristin moved to Colorado to pursue a Masters of Science in Animal Sciences, specifically equine reproduction. After her masters, Kristin will pursue a PhD in Animal Sciences. Her plan is to stay in academia and continue to teach and research within an agriculture program. While at Penn State in the College of Agriculture, Kristin had the opportunity to work with many different species of animals and learn about all aspects of the agriculture industry. She says she is excited to pursue a career in academia and pass on this knowledge to many students to come.

Janelle Hoffman
Graduated in 2010 with an Animal Sciences degree and Agricultural Business minor
She is attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine to be a food animal veterinarian.

Victor Faconti
Graduated in 2011 with a Turfgrass Science degree
He is the Assistant Superintendent at Shelter Harbor Golf Club in Charlestown, Rhode Island.