Get Involved!

As a student in the COA one of my favorite things is being involved with different clubs.  Most clubs have monthly (or sometimes even weekly) activities that you can go to.  Some clubs even have annual trips to fun or exotic places that you can attend.

My favorite club that I’m a part of is the Dairy Science Club.  This is a newly re-vamped club that started strong again last fall.  Recently eight of us from the club had the opportunity to visit the central valley of California for the Western Regional Dairy Challenge competition.  This year there were 7 different universities there: Utah State University, University of Idaho, Washington State University, Texas A&M University, Fresno State University, California Polytechnic State University, and University of Alberta. 

At the competition we were split into groups of 5, being paired with students from all different universities (not just our own).  Then, over 2 days, we had about 6 hours of computer time and 3 hours of on-farm time to analyze and critic a local dairy.  The dairy we visited was called Double Oak Dairy and was milking around 1200 jersey cows.  It was our responsibility to decide what the dairy was doing well, what the dairy wasn’t doing well, and ways the dairy could change in order to be more profitable.  In the end each group came up with a PowerPoint presentation around 20 minutes long which was presented to a panel of judges that included local nutritionists, veterinarians and other dairy related specialists.  The judges then had 5 minutes to ask us questions about our results and then 10 minutes to give us feedback on our presentation. For more information on what the Dairy Challenge involves, look at this website:  http://www.dairychallenge.org/

This whole process was a learning experience.  Working with people who come from different universities and have different backgrounds allows you to both gain and share lots of different knowledge.  It is also a chance to practice teamwork, leadership, critical thinking and presenting skills.  While in California, our USU group also took the opportunity to visit a local cheese factory and a 500 cow dairy that is using ProCross (a dairy cross-breeding system).  Overall it was a great time and a fun way to spend a weekend. 

Next week, four of us from the club will be heading to the National Dairy Challenge which is being held in Roanoake, VA.  This will be a similar event with the only major difference being that each university has its own team so you are working with people you know.  We are looking forward to another fun experience there!

Overall I would encourage you, whether current or perspective student, to be involved with clubs.  There are so many great opportunities out there for students if you make an effort!  Going places, doing thing, and getting experience are what college is all about and what better way to do that than by hanging out with fun people who have the same interests as you!

-Karmella Dolecheck, Ag Ambassador