Over the summer, I worked for Dairy Farmers of America at the Mideast Area office in Medina, Ohio. My position was the communication intern, which entailed assisting the communication associate with a variety of projects. Throughout the internship, I learned a great deal about writing, designing and working with others.
A major part of my internship was re-branding the member guide, the leadership directory, the employee manual and the hauler manual. I also assisted in the creation of a gold standard binder to give to members and a glossary of dairy industry terms for new employees. I completed other projects as well, such as a post card to be sent to members to encourage them to visit Farm Science Review. I really enjoyed becoming more experienced with Adobe InDesign through these projects.
I also had the opportunity to help plan a variety of office events for June Dairy Month. I helped to create flyers and signs for these events. I especially enjoyed World Milk Day, which is pictured. I also had the opportunity to create signs and a banner for the Mideast Area Leadership Conference, and attend that conference as well. There I helped with aspects of the event, such as registering members and employees for the conference. These experiences helped me to build my skills within event planning.
Writing and editing was also a skill I developed through my internship. I wrote an article for our newsletter and edited the newsletters as necessary. I also wrote for many of the projects I designed throughout my internship.
This summer I had a great experience with Dairy Farmers of America. The people were one of the favorite parts of my internship, along with the skills I expanded. I was thrilled to learn more about the dairy industry and to gain more skills as an agricultural communicator.
Marlee Stollar, agricultural communication
Stollar (right) with her co-works on World Milk Day
Stollar (Right) with other interns on their last day of work