If you were to say a year ago that I would be introducing over 70 new freshmen to campus, I would’ve never believed you. My name is Jessica Smith, I am from Charlotte, NC, and I am a sophomore here at UMD majoring in Agricultural Resource Economics and Agricultural Business Management at the Institute of Applied Agriculture. For my internship, I was the Outreach and Recruitment Intern at the
Institute of Applied Agriculture in College Park for the summer.
As the Outreach and Recruitment Intern, one of my primary tasks was to plan, prepare, and execute four new student orientations. With the program growing to become so large, and being a typical introvert, I gained much-needed communication skills by giving all the new freshman tours of campus and getting to tell them all the interesting, fun, and useful resources that I’ve found helpful in my past year at the
university. Orientation was something I valued when I joined the program. Getting to bring all of the new students out of their shells and have them get to know one another (even though it may have been through “silly” and “awkward” icebreakers), it was well worth it to see them make connections as I did a year ago. When I was leading the icebreakers by myself for the first time I was emailed by one of my professors in the department this quote “Kick butt today- know you will. Remember you are the BOSS and have fun!” which motivated me to give it my all that day.
The other main task of my internship was to develop an occupational outlook for all nine IAA majors. This task involved a lot of research and critical thinking skills, especially for an agricultural business management major who has never looked into the turfgrass and golf industries. As someone who has always thought of going for a four-year degree, this project gave me the knowledge of what wide job opportunities the two-year certificate program has to offer for student’s future careers. Many long days were also spent designing the book with attention to detail to make sure they were ready to be printed and used for future recruitment events.
As much as I enjoyed bringing new students out of their shells, this internship has brought me out of mine. As someone who would’ve never imagined that I would be talking to over 70 students about how you should go to 251 North Dining Hall for milkshakes, describing the difference between over 1,000 basil plants to visitors at Maryland Day, or taking over two UMD Instagram accounts for a day in my life, this internship has given me so many different experiences, skills, and connections that I will treasure throughout my career.
