By Robert Shaffer, Heartland Community College

Participants introduce themselves during a visit at Farm Credit Illinois in Mahomet, IL

There is a fun opportunity for local community college students who are interested in learning more about some of the big names in agriculture as they are going through their schooling. It is on Fridays, too, which makes it more available to the students who are involved with it.

There are plenty of reasons to choose this opportunity as a good way to spend a few Fridays during the spring semester. The first is the value of what you’re actually doing. You visit multiple companies across Central Illinois, learning from and meeting people who could possibly incredibly helpful later on – especially when you begin your career within the world of agriculture. Not only do you hear about what these companies do and their missions and goals, but you also see firsthand how they work to achieve success and how they learned from their own mentors.

That brings me to another great reason for this program: understanding what a good mentor looks like. Throughout the visits, we heard testimony from many people during the visits who credit their growth to someone else who guided them, taught them and shaped their careers. At our stop at Precision Planting, a few of the employees talked about their experience with just one person, Kevin Bean, who turned out to be a mentor to all of them. He was a great role model for everyone within the company and set the standard for being caring, passionate, open-minded and a good listener not only for the people who work there, but people within the agriculture industry as a whole.

The final reason to participate in this program is the networking. You meet people from all sorts of different backgrounds, careers and places, and it’s important that you maximize this perk by keeping contact with those people and leaving a good impression for future collaboration.

In conclusion, there is a great opportunity that lies within the Illinois Soybean Association Mentorship Program. As a community college student, it is in your best interest to take full advantage of it – for both your own growth and for the benefit of the people you’ll meet and network with along the way. So, if you have the opportunity, do not be afraid to put your name in the hat!