Students Earn Career Training at Farm Funders

Enfield, Conn. — In honor of National Intern Day being celebrated on July 31, Farm Funders recognizes the 16 college students the financial cooperative hosted this summer. With career aspirations in production agriculture, agribusiness, accounting, finance, communications or related fields, their efforts will leave a lasting impact on the association.  

This year’s Farm Funders interns include two students from SUNY Morrisville: Carrianne Bush and Emily Frazier; Aidan Byrnes, SUNY Binghamton; Halle Deproto-Strobel, University of Connecticut; Paige Evans, Liberty University; Sunshine Friedline, Niagara University; Amani Hill, Rutgers University; Michael Johanson, Colorado State University; Matthew Johnson, SUNY Oswego; Emily Kreher, American University; two students from the University of Massachusetts: Devin Lippman and Ryan Plisinski; Isaac Nevin-D'Allaird, Clarkson University; Alyssa Nightingale, University of Maine - Presque Isle; and two students from SUNY Cobleskill: Paisley Nudd and Abigail Reen. 

“As part of our commitment to the future of Northeast agriculture, commercial fishing and forest products, our internship program challenges the students and provides them with first-hand, real-world experience in their anticipated fields” said Briana Beebe, Farm Funders Chief Operating Officer. 

The internship program is offered to college juniors and seniors each summer. During the experience, students have a look into Farm Funders and shadow employees in various roles to learn about different career opportunities. Each intern also completes a major project which contributes valuable information for association initiatives and future planning.

“Interns take an active role within the organization, working on various projects that will benefit Farm Funders well into the future,” continued Ms. Beebe. “We put together an interactive program that allows the interns to gain extensive exposure to many areas of agriculture and the many business services we provide at Farm Funders, as well as considerable professional development to set them up for success.” 

Interns are recruited from college campuses across the Northeast. On many of these campuses, Farm Funders has established relationships with campus organizations such as the National FFA Organization, Farm Credit Fellows, Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources Related Sciences (MANRRS) and 4-H, and actively seeks new partnerships to recruit a diverse set of interns. The organization also utilizes its network of customer and employee referrals to recruit interns and employees.  

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