Making the leap to a full-time career is a hard decision. For 22 students from 16 different colleges, the opportunity to explore the inner workings of a pork production company became a life-changing experience on Jan. 3-7 in Guymon, Okla.
Seaboard Foods’ annual Winternship opens the door for students to explore how its company works while networking with subject matter experts to better understand career paths and gain knowledge about how pork is produced.
“Many college students don’t always know what they want to do when they graduate or are not aware of the many career paths a large agribusiness company has to offer. The Winternship provides an eye-opening experience to help students learn about the pork industry and see many potential career opportunities,” Alaina Sill, talent acquisition and recruiting manager at Seaboard Foods, said in a release.
This Winternship program started in 2010, reaching 235 students with a real-life look at the pork industry through tours and presentations and connections with professionals and subject matter experts.
Opportunities to be exposed to real-life agriculture and more limited than ever. Photo provided by Seaboard Foods.
“We started the Winternship to provide a very transparent look at how pork is produced and the many opportunities our sector of agriculture has to offer,” Craig Maloney, senior director of operational support at Seaboard Foods, said in a release. “As an industry, we have a responsibility to expose young people to what we do, getting them excited about how the pork they eat is produced and showing them that we are innovative, business savvy, and have many great opportunities for fulfilling careers.”
Exposure to agriculture, farming and rural life is more limited than ever before. Because of this, experiential opportunities are more important than ever before, Seaboard Foods said.
“Our Winternship experience shows students how pork is produced from beginning to end. Education and exposure like the Winternship is key to building future leaders and advocates for our industry,” said Rick Sappington, plant vice president and general manager for Seaboard Foods, in a release.
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