A day at St Andrews!
Author: Olivia Larson | Majors: Agricultural Communications, Agricultural Leadership | Semester: May Intersession 2023
This summer I traveled abroad on a study tour of England and Scotland studying Agricultural and Environmental Communications in the UK. Seeing the way that other countries communicate agriculture is fascinating and witnessing this firsthand made me feel extremely proud to be an agricultural communications student in the Bumpers College. It is extremely important to be excited about your future career and sometimes college isn’t exactly conducive to excitement. This program allowed me to experience communications in a way I have never thought possible. These experiences will 100% boost my marketability as well in the workforce. Being able to see the way my future career is handled in another country gave me a great perspective into how I want my future career to be handled in the United States.
Not only did I gain professional experience abroad in the writing sector, but I also had the opportunity to sharpen my photography and videography skills. While abroad, we traveled to various agricultural operations and had the chance to film and photograph their land and animals.
As a non-traditional agriculture student, I was absolutely thrilled to be able to learn more about the UK’s views on agricultural and food production strategies. I have worked very hard during my years in the Bumpers College to familiarize myself with the inner workings of the agriculture industry in the United States and being able to compare and contrast these two sectors was amazing. After my undergraduate degree, I will pursue my master’s degree and PhD in hopes of fulfilling my dream to eventually return to a land grant university to teach the next generation of student’s key agricultural communications strategies. Understanding agricultural communications on a worldly scale will be extremely important for me if I intend to be the best professor I can be for my students.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to learn about my passion in such a unique way. I know that I have returned to the United States ready to communicate how important our agricultural industry is to those whose jobs fall in the ag sector, and those who are unfamiliar with agriculture.
One of my favorite experiences outside of our class time was our opportunity to visit Kensington Palace in London. I have always had an interest in fashion and at the moment, Kensington Palace has an amazing exhibit named Crown to Couture open. We had the chance to look around at American fashion staples on exhibit with some of the most famous royal dresses. It was absolutely beautiful, and I loved having the chance to compare our country’s most famous looks against the royal family’s most famous looks. I also just want to say that I was not expecting the food in Scotland! It was a little weird but in a good way! I am proud to say that I did try haggis and will rub that in my friends’ faces!
I would 100% recommend this program to any students who are interested! It was the perfect mix of touristy and local! We had the chance to visit so many different farms and agricultural operations as well as castles and museums. It was a whirlwind of two weeks, but it was all worth it!