5 Things Marissa Miller Learned As A Co-Alliance YieldPRO Intern
Sep 22, 2023
This week on the blog we invite 2023 YieldPro Intern Marissa Miller to tell her internship story:
At the end of this past semester, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my final summer before graduating college, but I knew I wanted a job that would bring me back to agronomy. This brought me to being a YieldPRO Intern at Co-Alliance out of the Atlanta branch in Ohio where I have gotten to work with a wonderful team who’ve made me feel much more prepared to begin my own career in agriculture in just a few short months. I have learned many things in the short amount of time I’ve worked at Co-Alliance but there are some that will stick with me and continue to grow.
At the end of this past semester, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my final summer before graduating college, but I knew I wanted a job that would bring me back to agronomy. This brought me to being a YieldPRO Intern at Co-Alliance out of the Atlanta branch in Ohio where I have gotten to work with a wonderful team who’ve made me feel much more prepared to begin my own career in agriculture in just a few short months. I have learned many things in the short amount of time I’ve worked at Co-Alliance but there are some that will stick with me and continue to grow.
1. First and Foremost… Agronomy Skills!
This summer I spent a good majority of my days in a corn or soybean field scouting for various things such as reproductive stage, weeds, insects, and disease. I was able to brush up on any of my prior knowledge, plus add a ton more to it. As I am going to talk about, this internship gave me the opportunity to spend a lot of time working on my own which allowed me to be self-driven both by keeping a timely pace to cover acres on time for growers and by researching for answers such as types of weeds or insects.
This summer I spent a good majority of my days in a corn or soybean field scouting for various things such as reproductive stage, weeds, insects, and disease. I was able to brush up on any of my prior knowledge, plus add a ton more to it. As I am going to talk about, this internship gave me the opportunity to spend a lot of time working on my own which allowed me to be self-driven both by keeping a timely pace to cover acres on time for growers and by researching for answers such as types of weeds or insects.
2. Attempt To Find Your Own Answers
Having a mentor is a great way to pick up new knowledge and find out if you’re interested in a certain career, but after this summer I believe it is even more beneficial to be able to work on your own, in your own self-driven environment to do, learn, and grow. I spent many weeks this summer scouting fields by myself which allowed me to research my own questions and problems before I reached out for help. I feel that this allowed me to learn more, or at least gave me a solid understanding of where to start.
3. Be Confident In Both Your Questions and Your Answers
I know that above I said to find your own answers, but sometimes it doesn’t always work out like that. But before you go to ask questions try to be sure of what you’re asking. Whether it takes doing a little bit of research beforehand, it’ll make you feel more prepared (maybe give you a better understanding of their answer too) and it will also make the person you’re asking know that you care about the information which will be beneficial and show through for you in the long run.
On the flip side, it is just fine not to know an answer because we’re all still learning, but it is very important to be confident in the answers you do give to someone. This shows that you’ve done your research already and can give the other person confidence you’d continue to do so.
4. Go Ask For Work
There will be times when your to-do list is complete for the day or week and you’ve got nothing to do… go ask someone for something to do! This gives you the opportunity to experience a side that maybe isn’t specifically in your job description but is equally as important to know and understand. Although you don’t always get to do the prettiest job, sometimes you do get to do things like have interactions with the growers that you’re scouting for, which is great practice if you want to go into the business side of the industry.
5. You Get What You Take
On my first day, someone I worked with this whole summer basically said to me, “You’re going to get what you take from this internship”. I thought about that pretty hard the first few weeks as I was assigned tasks and started into the internship. Throughout this summer I tried to take every opportunity given to me by Co-Alliance which I believe has grown me in many ways.
This summer has given me much more than what I have written here, and I am excited to take this new knowledge with me into my final semester of college and my upcoming career.
I’d encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about the numerous internship opportunities at Co-Alliance to do some research or reach out to an employee with any questions you may have.
