A growth experience - 2012 GROWMARK Interns

As we wind down another growing season, we also send off our 2012 GROWMARK Summer Interns back to university for their final years, with hopefully, a broader perspective and more practical work experience after spending the past 12 weeks with the GROWMARK System.

This year’s program consisted of 51 university students placed at either an FS member co-operative, a GROWMARK home office or facility throughout the GROWMARK network in the US and Ontario. The unique part of this Internship Program is that each student is assigned a substantial key project that requires strategic planning and creativity. The completion of this project, not only gives the intern a true workplace experience of accountability, but also provides value to the organization.

Six of these students were placed here in Ontario. All six interns finished up their summer experience by travelling to GROWMARK’s home office in Bloomington, Illinois to present their findings to other interns and to GROWMARK executives.

All Ontario Interns this year are from the University of Guelph. Seen below are this year's Ontario GROWMARK Interns listed with their placement location and their special summer project:

From Left to Right:
Ashly De Brouwer Grain Intern with Great Lakes Grain - SPECIAL PROJECT: Branch and Customer Survey CS project
Morgan Kluka Agronomy Intern with AGRIS Co-operative- SPECIAL PROJECT: Western Bean Cutworm scouting/management
Erin Campbell Energy Intern with FS PARTNERS - SPECIAL PROJECT: Carbon-tax credit system implementation
Kim Hooey Crops Intern with Lucknow District Co-operative - SPECIAL PROJECT: Implementing AgVance computer system
Cristina Ricciardi HR Intern with GROWMARK Ontario region office - SPECIAL PROJECT: Career Ladders and Training module
Philip Cameron Agronomy Intern with AGRIS Co-operative (Chatham Ontario area) -SPECIAL PROJECT: Western Bean Cutworm scouting/mgt.

Cristina Ricciardi, 2012 GROWMARK Intern

One intern's perspective of the program:
“I was interested in working for GROWMARK for many reasons. It provided me the opportunity to gain practical work experience in my area of study, develop valuable contacts and learn more about the agriculture industry as well as co-operatives. The internship program at GROWMARK truly values what each student has to contribute to the system. The individual summer project allowed me to apply classroom theory to real-world scenarios. This experience will definitely help me stand out from the crowd down the road!”

To learn more about the GROWMARK Intership Program visit:
http://www.growmark.com/OurCareers/Pages/Internships.aspx