Our Crowdfunding Groups
Ag Comm FundISU donors,
As the year comes to a close, we want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued generosity and support of agricultural communications at Iowa State University. Because of you, students will continue to have high impact learning experiences and professional development opportunities that are critical to their time in the Agricultural Communication program, and in their future careers.
A few weeks ago, we launched the 2020 Ag Comm FundISU project, which is focused on further building the Agricultural Communication Development Fund. Gifts to this fund provide the department with resources to adapt the changing communication landscape and respond to industry needs and can support things like communication equipment needed by students and faculty, research support, supervision of internships and student club activities and more! This project will be live on FundISU until December 31st, and our goal is to raise $5,000.
Please consider making a gift to the 2020 FundISU project and help us spread the word about by using the “share to maximize impact” buttons at the top of our page. You can find our project here: https://fundisu.foundation.iastate.edu/AgComm2020.
Thank you for your continued support and for all you do for agricultural communications at ISU!
Happy New Year!
There is ONE DAY left to donate to our awesome organization here at Iowa State.
We are super excited for what is in store for ACT this year. The new officer team has many goals and aspirations for 2020 and we are so excited to see how they are implemented. With that, we want to say thank you for all of your support. We appreciate the gifts we have received and cannot wait to use them to attend helpful conferences like, Ag Media Summit and to further our club. Please continue to support us in our journey. There are exciting things coming!
We are very excited and pleased to introduce our new Public Relations officer for the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow here at Iowa State University. Kristen VanDeVelde is a sophomore in Agricultural Communication from small town Galva, IL. One of Kristen's main goal for the future of the club is to increase club awareness and attendance at monthly meetings. A fun fact about Kristen is she has never drank pop. If she could be any livestock animal she would be a cow because she would have cute babies, be lazy, and eat all of the time.
We are very excited to have Kristen as a new member and part of our new officer team! She will do great things as the Public Relations Officer for ACT. Keep a look out for Kristen's future posts on all of our social media platforms including FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram.
ACT would also like to wish all of our supporters a very Merry Christmas. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with friends and family. Remember, we are only accepting gifts until January 3rd. Please consider supporting our awesome organization.
The members of ACT would like to welcome our new club Event Coordinator, Jordyn Delzer!
Hometown- South Wayne, WI
Year In School- Junior
Major- Animal Science with a communications emphasis
New ACT Officer Position- Event Coordinator
Goal for ACT- Increase membership numbers
Fun Fact- I'm related to Winston Churchill
If Jordyn could be any livestock, she would be a horse because like her personality, they're free spirited.
We are very excited to have Jordyn on our executive team. We are excited to see how she implements her goals for the club in this upcoming year. Welcome, Jordyn!
During our December meeting, the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow held 2020 officer elections. We listened to many members as they stood up and gave their speeches for their desired positions. ACT has a very promising future and we cannot wait to see all the amazing things the future officer team does for the club.
First, we would like to thank Ms. Madeline McGarry for all the time and effort she put in the last year while being ACT's 2019 president. We are sad to see such a passionate and hard working member go but we wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors. Maddy plans on continuing her education by getting her masters degree in advanced education in hopes of one day teaching agricultural communication.
To kick off our 2020 elected officer team, I would like to introduce our new CALS Connections CALS Council Representative:
Lauren Mosher
Hometown- Liscomb, IA
Year- Sophomore
Major- Agricultural Communication with minors in Animal Science and Public Relations
Goal for ACT- I want to encourage students to be active in the annual critique contest through National ACT
Fun Fact- My first 4-H bottle calf was names Bozo and laid down in the show ring while I was showing him.
If you could be any livestock animal, what would you be and why?
"If I could be any animal, I would be a cow. They serve multiple purposes and give back to the world through calving and meat production."
We are super excited to have Lauren on the 2020 officer team!
Just a heads up that today is Giving Tuesday, the international day of charitable giving. We are so thankful to all who have taken the time to donate to our club already. We are ONE MONTH away from our deadline and still have a long way to go. Please help us out today on this Giving Tuesday by giving to our club. We cannot wait to see how well this project turns out!
Please notice the pictures of our current Treasurer, Cynthia Hamlett. Her passion for agriculture is a prime example of what this program is all about. Our members are so passionate about agriculture and I wanted to share a picture of the passion in action. When you are donating to ACT, please remember you are giving to extraordinary agricultural communicators who WILL make a difference in the ag industry upon graduation. Cynthia hopes to communicate through agricultural policy specifically, within the dairy industry.
The members of ACT hope you all had a happy and safe Thanksgiving. We were super excited to take a break from school and spend some quality time with friends and family.
Finals are just upon us. ACT members are back to Iowa State and preparing for their big final exams. Please send ACT humble thoughts as we go into the final weeks of the semester and long night study sessions.
This Thursday December 5th, we will be having our final ACT club meeting of the year! We will be electing our new officer team. We are so excited to see how elections turn out.
We have about a month left to receive donations. Thank you to all who have donated already, we appreciate it and are super thankful.
Can you believe it's November and almost December? We can't. The Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow have been looking at this colder weather as an opportunity for some fun socials. Toward the beginning of this month, a handful of ACT members joined together at the Ames Ice Arena for a night full of fun. They were able to partake in the Iowa State student night at the ice rink and bond as a club while trying to learn how to ice skate.
Socials are always a great opportunity for club members to get to know each other and make connections. It is always nice for members to have the ability to connect with each other about internships, jobs, classes, etc. Networking and making connections plays such an important role in the agriculture industry. We had such a great time taking a break from studying and enjoying the night out with our fellow communicators. We look forward to having more fun socials throughout the year.
Again, we are super thankful for the donations that are able to make these events happen. We love to be able to go out as a club and enjoy a night off from school by really diving in to important conversations about our future. The Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow are getting ready to elect next year's officer team. We can't wait to introduce you!
The Agricultural Media Summit is the largest gathering of agriculture's top writers, editors, photographers, publishers and communication specialists in the United States. Because of our donors every year, we are able to send students to attend this great event and grow in our agricultural communication knowledge and experience.
Student Rebecca Ahrendsen, and academic advisor Virginia Hanson, were able to attend the Agricultural Media Summit this past summer in Kansas City, Missouri. Rebecca and Virginia were able to network and connect with many different industry professionals. They brought tons of valuable information back from their experience there and were able to share with the rest of the agricultural communicators of tomorrow.
Rebecca shared a few things she learned while in attendance at Agricultural Media Summit:
1. Network, network, network!
Ag Media Summit taught me an incredible amount of agricultural communications tactics that I am eager to utilize throughout my career. Nonetheless, I would definitely have to say that networking is an amazing interpersonal communications skill that will truly take young professionals so far. I took some time to introduce myself to fellow ACT club members around the nation and learn more about their experiences at Ag Media Summit. It was so useful to hear about their collegiate and professional opportunities in the agricultural communications field. Overall, just remember to put yourself out there and meet others.
2. Keep your creativity flowin’
Several of the sessions I attended focused on creativity and having fun with whatever materials you maybe designing. Of course, it is always important to stay on brand regarding specific corporation’s policies. For instance, Nicole Erceg, Assistant Director of Communications at Certified Angus Beef, brought to life an array of branded design examples that obtained her personal creativity, as well as stuck to the Certified Angus Beef brand guidelines. Erceg spoke to the point that a creative and concise design template can not only save you time, but can catch the eye of your audience. Needless to say, after this session I was not only feeling inspired, but also fired up to complete quality work.
3. Social media doesn’t have to be difficult
It seems that everyone and their mother is on social media these days and as agricultural communicators it is important to use that to our advantage. Nicole Erceg gave even more insight into social media usage from a corporate standpoint. She stated that batch work and style guides can immensely help social media users. When it comes to batching designs, Nicole uses a consistent template that also follows the style guide. This ensures that each post is attractive in both looks and core content. Presets in Adobe Photoshop are something that Nicole uses to her advantage as well when creating content.
Examples of sessions attended:
These sessions were presented by communications specialists in organizations like Certified Angus Beef, Wylie Communications Inc., and Corteva Agriscience.
Rebecca came back with a worthwhile experience. She explained how she made so many different connections throughout the industry and was able to apply her experience to her summer internship at John Deere.
ACT is so grateful for our amazing donors in making this possible and cannot wait to send students to Agricultural Media Summit in 2020.
To kick off our FundISU project this year, I would like to take the time to introduce some of our outstanding officers.
For the past year, the following students have worked remotely hard to manage the Iowa State chapter of the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. They have given club members amazing opportunities and promoted the club well for new students. I would like to take the time to promote some of the officers that have worked extremely hard the past year:
President:
Madeline McGarry is a senior majoring in agricultural communications and international agriculture. She is currently serving as the President of the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow chapter here at Iowa State.
Vice President:
Cynthia Hamlett is a junior majoring in dairy science and agriculture and society. She is currently serving as the Vice President of the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow chapter here at Iowa State.
Secretary:
Erin Chalupa is a junior majoring in animal science with a minor in agriculture business. She served as the Secretary for most of her term but was offered an opportunity she couldn't pass up and handed down the position. We would still like to thank Erin for all of her hard work.
Treasurer:
Kelsi Carlson is a senior majoring in agricultural communications. She is currently serving as the Treasurer of the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow chapter here at Iowa State.
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