Although Adam George has explored other career opportunities, his plans following graduation have always been to return to his family’s 450-cow operation in Cody, Wyoming.

Kelly and Christy Cunningham were determined to own their own dairy in Iowa.

Although parents and teachers have told their students, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” some may still wonder why networking is so important. Trust Jean Kummer and Trent Olson, two college graduates who credit much of their career success to the contacts they have made along the way. “Every interaction you have with people who work in your field leaves an impression,” says Penn State University alumna Jean Kummer. “There’s definitely a window of opportunity to meet with potential employers when in school because they’re looking for bright, eager graduates.”

Many agricultural college students across the country spent the summer break developing their talents, making industry contacts and preparing for a career following graduation. Meet eight of these hardworking and dedicated youth and learn about how their internship experiences have been both educational and beneficial.

When the time came for Scott Kresge of Perry County, Pennsylvania, to decide on a college, the fact that his two older sisters were attending Delaware Valley College was more of a deterrent than an enticement. “Having sisters there actually made me think that I didn’t want to go [to Delaware Valley College] because I didn’t want to follow in their footsteps,” Scott says. “But I decided that I had to, so I did.”

Pastures and grass silage packs are the mainstays on David Brewster’s Scottish dairy.

Neighbors judged Dan Brick and his dairy for its smell and mud on the roads – until he held his first dairy tour. Now the fifth-generation dairy farmer from Greenleaf, Wisconsin, says he and his employees have seen the attention they receive flip-flop from negative to positive.

Carl and Debra Chaney of Bowling Green, Kentucky, spent the first 20 years of their lives together focusing on raising children, milking cows and running the family farm, but as their kids began moving away Debra and Carl began talking about their dreams.

A lot more women are rising before the sun these days, and it is not to make breakfast, get the kids off to school or clean the house. They are milking cows, feeding calves and doing daily work on a dairy operation.

Dairyman Bill Wolfe is the young blood of his Wisconsin family’s fourth-generation farm. His great-grandfather homesteaded the original farm. Since then the family has purchased other farmland adjacent to the homestead, owning a total of 600 acres.