Summer Internships

Summer break provides students with a much-needed break as well as an opportunity to dive into new opportunities by taking advantage of internships and jobs. For these four AEE students, classes may not have been in session, but they were still immersed in learning and new experiences.

Mary Kate Myers

Class Standing: Senior
Major: Agricultural Sciences, Communication, & Leadership
Position: University of Idaho’s States’ 4-H International Exchange Program Intern

In my internship, I helped with placing Exchange Delegates with host families all over the state of Idaho, as well as conducting home interviews with families and contacting references for the families. I worked as part of a team to assist with delegates arriving in the United States and meeting host families, along with picking up delegates that stayed in North Idaho on the way to Boise for departure. We had 36 delegates come to Idaho from Japan and South Korea. While this was my summer internship I have just recently had the opportunity to continue this internship into the school year. My responsibilities are now focused on marketing for the programs through social media; creating a program that focuses on 4-H Ambassadors getting our name out to clubs as well as helping with our arrival and departure groups. As well as working on and off with our Academic Year Program and Outbound Program.                          

In high school, I was an international student ambassador and had the opportunity to travel to Europe twice. Through that experience, I became really interested in international communications and this internship was a great opportunity to see more about something I was interested in. Also, as someone who participated in 4-H for 10 years, it was a chance to work for a program I was familiar with. Being able to continue this internship through the school year is a great opportunity to see if this internship could potentially create a career in the future.                          

McKenna Ford

Class Standing: Junior
Major: Agricultural Education
Position: Summer Camp Educator

I was an educator at the Discovery Center of Idaho, a science museum in Boise, where I learned and taught kids a variety of tools and skills within the umbrella of STEM. I loved it because it was a challenge and allowed me to work with kids ranging from 6-14 years old, so every day it definitely tested my adaptability and versatility. This job will help me with my career goals because it gave me new skills such as troubleshooting and robotics which could really enhance my future ag program. I chose it because I was told it would be fun and it gave me a chance to explore Idaho, being a Washingtonian.

Hannah Doumit

Class Standing: Junior
Major: Agricultural Sciences, Communications & Leadership
Position: Commercial Fisherman

This summer I had the opportunity to work on a tender, a vessel which maximizes the capacity of carrying fish and acts as a fish buying vessel for fish processing plants or canneries.  My uncle’s boat, the Watchman, is an 89 ft. vessel with two cranes on it.  Gillnet fishermen can deliver fish to either side of the vessel.  When delivering, the bags, or brailers, of fish are lifted from the fishing vessels with the crane and tripped into one of two tanks, which hold up to 233,000 lbs. of fish and refrigerated seawater.  My uncle keeps his boat on the Columbia River in Western Washington and I had the chance to drive the tender up to Alaska with him.  Myself, my uncle, and two other crewmen navigated the tender up the Washington coast and through the inside passage up to Ketchikan, Alaska.  From Ketchikan, we cut across the Gulf of Alaska, South of Kodiak Island, and along the Alaska Peninsula to the small town of King Cove, Alaska.  In King Cove, our contract with the processor started.  From King Cove we traveled down to False Pass, navigating between the first of the Aleutian Islands and the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, and then up the other side of the mountains to Bristol Bay.  I was with the boat buying fish out of Dillingham, Alaska in the Bay for about three weeks before heading to my home port, Kenai, Alaska.  In Kenai, I work on the fishing end of the spectrum.  My Dad and I own a drift gillnet commercial fishing boat that we fish in Cook Inlet.  I’ve had the pleasure of working with him as his crewman for the past 8 summers and I absolutely love it.  Working incredibly long days out on the water, catching salmon.  I’ve always related these experiences so closely to agriculture.  The boat is my combine.  Good seasons and bad seasons, industrial equipment, long days, and hard work, feeding people all over the world with the fish we catch.  I love the physical labor and the challenges that come with every day.  From these experiences, I’ve learned to have a solid work ethic and to have a different respect for people that work in such labor-intensive industries.  With this experience, it has helped to shape what I’d like to do as a future career.  I’d love to continue fishing in the summer and work for a marketing group ideally.  Specifically an organization such as Alaska Seafood Marking or the Idaho Beef Council, helping to promote products that are produced from industries I take part in and have a passion for.  Eventually, I’d like to be able to market my own products, wild Alaskan salmon, and prime beef from my family’s cattle herd.

Liz Wilder

Class Standing: Senior
Major: Agricultural Sciences, Communications, & Leadership
Position: Communications Intern at the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, Domestic Marketing Intern for the Idaho Barley Commission

This summer I worked for two different commissions, the Idaho Barley Commission and the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council. At both of these internships, I was pushed out of my comfort zone, learned new skills, and gained a greater understanding of the agriculture industry. At the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, I worked on a variety of projects that primarily focused on written media. I wrote a minimum of one article each week for the weekly newsletter, the Pulse Pipeline, wrote a feature story for the Take Your Pulse magazine and assisted with design and editing projects as needed. This internship taught me a lot about the pulse industry and gave me an insight into the role communications plays in the agriculture industry.

For the Idaho Barley Commission, I worked as a Domestic Marketing intern helping launch their new domestic food barley marketing campaign. I created the social media accounts for the platform, Barley: Nature’s Hearty Grain, developed content for the website, created marketing materials, met with industry professionals, and worked alongside growers. This internship allowed me to use as much creativity as I could and implement new ideas on a large scale. I gained valuable insights into the world of marketing and its importance.

After graduation, I want to work for either a commission or non-profit, helping spread the message of agriculture. Both internships gave me the tools I need to be successful in this internship.