Students Earn Career Training at Farm Funders

ENFIELD, CONN. — Farm Funders was pleased to host 12 college students with career aspirations in production agriculture, agribusiness, accounting, finance, communications or related fields as part of its annual summer internship program. “Our internship program exemplifies our commitment to the future of Northeast agriculture, commercial fishing and forest products,” said Mike Reynolds, Farm Funders CEO. “The program challenges the students and provides them with first-hand, real-world experience in their anticipated fields.”

This year’s Farm Funders interns include two students from SUNY Cobleskill: Brendan Scoralick and Jenna Swyers; two students from the University of Connecticut: Jasmine Morris and Alexis Brown; along with Ben Archambault, St. Michael’s College; Kierra Keyon, SUNY Morrisville; Kelsey LaFave, Cornell University; Connor Merrifeld, Niagara University; Riley Ochs, University of Vermont; Harsh Patel, Westfield State University; Elizabeth Peila, Perdue University; and Emma Walley, Siena College.

The internship program is offered to college juniors 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 crucial projects that will benefit Farm Funders well into the future,” said Director of Talent Management, Jean Gallagher. “Collectively, our team puts together an interactive program that allows the interns to gain extensive exposure to many areas of agriculture, the many business services we provide here 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 is actively seeking 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. For more information on the Farm Funders internship program, please contact Jean Gallagher at Jean.Gallagher@FarmCreditEast.com.

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