The future demands that our agricultural workforce be talented men and women with strong credentials in education, leadership and work experience.  AFA is committed to being a value-added partner in the talent development process of your students. Helping individuals who are passionate about agriculture (or just finding their interest in agriculture), to nurture their talent and build the career skills necessary to complete in a global market place is AFA’s mission.

As AFA prepares to host over 500 students from around the country, we invite your university to take advantage of the opportunity and have students from your university participate. The AFA Leader Development model is intended to compliment a student’s formal academic experience. The conference agenda helps attendees build skills in the areas of personal assessment, career preparation, communication, managing change, and preparing to live and work in a global marketplace. Additionally, students will have the ability to interact with industry leaders on a 3-to-1 ratio, while building a lifelong network with other young people preparing for careers in agriculture.

AFA’s vision is to be a catalyst in the preparation of a new generation of leaders. We ask for your partnership in this endeavor.

In 2010, all AFA student participants, regardless of their funding into the program, will be eligible for pairing with an AFA industry partner. The pairing program allows for organizations to make direct connections with students interested in learning more about their respective organizations.

To learn more about AFA and its mission, please feel free to contact us at (816) 472-4232. We would encourage you to also visit www.agfuture.org to view our annual report and past conference programs. Updates will be made regularly on the 2010 agenda and schedule. Thank you for your time, and we look forward to seeing your students in November at AFA Leaders Conference.

AAEA summer intern to work for Farm Industry News

Each year, the American Agricultural Editors Association sponsors (through a Professional Improvement Foundation grant) one college student to work for 10 weeks at one of our member media companies. This year, the host media for the AAEA Summer Intern program will be Farm Industry News, under the direction of Karen McMahon.

In expressing her interest for hosting the AAEA summer intern, Karen wrote, “ Our magazine reaches 200,000 corn and soybean growers in the Midwest. We would be able to given an intern firsthand experience in writing, photography, and producing online material for the magazine. In fact, we are very involved in online video work and would be able to provide great experience in that area as well.”

If you’re a communications college student and you have an interest in agriculture, we urge you to apply for this invaluable real life ag communications internship for the summer of 2010. You can find the application form and instructions by clicking here. The postmark deadline for this program is Feb. 15, 2010. The deadline has been extended to Feb 26th.

Karen also mentioned that the Farm Industry News staff is eager to work with an intern this summer!

If you’re an AAEA member and you know a student who might be interested, please tell him or her about the AAEA Summer Intern program, and urge them to apply before the deadline.

Mindy Williamson can be reached at mwilliamson@iowacorn.org.

Please download it here.

Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A., is still accepting applications for its second annual scholarship program that provides financial assistance to ACT members. The scholarship deadline is Feb. 26.

The Yamaha-ACT Scholarship Program is broken out into two individual student scholarships and one chapter scholarship.  All three scholarships are aimed at helping students attend the annual Agricultural Media Summit (AMS), a professional development and networking opportunity for agricultural communications professionals in St. Paul, MN this July.

To view the entire press release, click here.

For the individual and chapter application, click here.

For the ATV safety guidelines, click here. ]]> http://nactnow.org/?feed=rss2&p=659 0 http://nactnow.org/?p=646 http://nactnow.org/?p=646#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:08:02 +0000 Advisor http://nactnow.org/?p=646 Three to five short-term internship positions are available with the 2010 Agricultural Media Summit, July 26-29.  Intern responsibilities will include general support for on-site conference management. Interns will be selected during a short inverview process on Friday, Feb. 26 at the National ACT Professional Development Conference at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas.  (Applicants must attend the Professional Development Conference to be eligible.) Successful applicants will receive free registration and housing at the 2010 Agricultural Media Summit (and National ACT Conference) in St. Paul, MN. Applicants should forward their resumes by Feb. 19 to Diane Johnson at dianej@flash.net.  Applicants may contact Johnson for more information.

See flyer for additional details.

With the kickoff of Phase II you’ll be able to view and download the clips that were submitted throughout the first phase of the contest by going to the contest Web site. You can use any number of video clips from the first phase of the contest and/or your own media to make the most creative and educational video possible for your chance to win $5,000.

There are a few things to keep in mind while making your final video:

· You can submit a final video even if you did not participate by submitting clips during Phase I of the contest. All final videos should be submitted by 11:50 p.m. CST on November 23^rd. To get an idea of what your final video should include, winning videos from the 2008 video contest are available at the following links:

· OatS – University of Wisconsin-Madison

· Today’s Agriculture – University of Florida

· Beef: Our Priority – University of Arizona

• Your goal is to tell the story of current agriculture issues and the role of modern agriculture in American society. The videos should be presented in terms that someone without an ag background can understand.

• You can use any amount of clips from the contest site, plus any of your own footage and you may add sound, music, voice-overs and titles to bring your video to life and make it tell a story.

• Stay within the guidelines outlined in the Contest Rules .

• Remember that videos are judged on creativity and quality. We encourage you to contact the journalism and communication departments at your school for an additional perspective and media resources.

• We recommend using SolveigMultimedia or Jumpcut if you need Web-based editing and mixing software, or use your own editing software. The software can be used to combine short video clips into one larger video, and add in sound, graphics, copy and other elements that can help bring your video to life.

• If a video includes people, please be sure to have those people sign the release form you can find by clicking here.

We look forward to reviewing the submitted videos, but please remember you only have until November 23^rd to submit them. As always, feel free to contact Amanda Eberle at aeberle@charlestonorwig.com or 262-563-5100 with questions.

Thank you,

Alpharma Animal Health

Please download it here.